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/3P.77. o ' ,

HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

■^ HISTORY

OP THE

,TOWN OF HINGHAM.

MASSACHUSETTS,

/ r'^'J

IN THBEE VOLUMES.

YoLUMB L — Pabt L

HISTORICAL.

PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN.

1893.

HISTORY

or THE

TOWN OF HINGHAM,

MASSACHUSETTa

IN THRKB TOLUMBS.

VoLUHx L — Part L
HISTORICAL.

. r- -> -I-, trt,^ i.^.*^..^am«^^ ■ , ^ ■■ -■-jiirfi^l

*Mi*aMJMIk^l^K«l»MtfMMJklb

?/S /3^9/.^.^Y^^,.A

hARVtf^D COLLEGE LIBKAMY

FROW IhELloRARYOf

ERNEST LEWIS QAf

JVNL IS. 1927

JOHX WlLMX A3CD 8o5« CaM»BIDC&

PREFACE.

TN the year 1827' a Hjsxoby of Hingham was compiled
by Solomon Lincoln, Jr., which was published by
Caleb Gill, Jr., and Farmer and Brown, of Hingham. It
was a small volume of one hundred and eighty-three
pages, the work of private enterprise, and only three
hundred copies were printed. Many of the copies have
been destroyed or lost, or distributed among the families
of persons who have removed from Hingham; collec-
tors of rare books have also contributed to make the
work still more scarce, and of greatly enhanced monqr
value ; so that it has been difficult to secure information
concerning the early annals of the town. Moreover the
last half-century has been prolific with changes in our
local affairs as important as any in all our previous
history. It therefore became a matter of sufficient public
interest for the town to take some action in relation to
the publication of its history, and at the annual meeting
in 1882 a committee was appointed to consider the expedi-
ency of publishing a History of Hingham. This committee
made a report at the annual town meeting, in 1883, recom-
mending ^Hhat the town cause a History of Hingham
to be prepared and published, and that a committee be
appointed to have entire charge of the publication."

The report was accepted, the recommendations adopted,
and the following committee appointed to carry the same
into effect, viz. : —

George Lincoln. R Waters Burr. Edmund Herset.

Fearino Burr. Eujah Shuts. Amasa Whitino.

John Gushing. Henry Stephenson. Joseph O. Burdett.

Francis H. Lincoln. John D. Long. Walter L. Bouy£.

Amasa Whiting was unable to serve, and Arthur Lincoln
was appointed in his place.

Liberal appropriations have been made by the town
from time to time, for the accomplishment of the work.

The first question wbich confronted the committee was,
^^ Who shall write the History ? " It was agreed at once
that for the preparation of the Genealogies of Hingham
families Mr. George Lincoln was best fitted, on account of
the aipount of material already in his possession/ his many
years of research, and his familiarity with the families
of the town. He was therefore employed by the com-
mittee to furnish that portion of the work. Had there
been known to the committee any one person possessing
the ability and taste for historical wilting, the leisure to
devote to it, and familiarity with the history and tra-
ditions of our town, he would have given to the work a
uniformity of style and continuity of narrative which is
very desirable. But no one answering this description
appeared to be available, and as assurances of a willing-
ness to write upon special topics were given by several of
our citizens, who seemed to be well adapted to such special
work, the plan was decided upon which has its fulfilment
in the following pages of " Historical ** matter. The work
of these authors has been without compensation other than

the pleasure and satUfaction gained from the study of the
past, and at much cheerful and voluntary sacrifice of
time and strength. Many of the illustrations have been
procured through the enthusiasm of some of our local,
amateur photographers.

The work has grown far beyond any original expecta-
tion of its magnitude, and, as it is, much has of necessity
been omitted which it might be profitable and interesting
to preserve; the patience of the town has been taxed
through many years of anxious waiting ; but it is hoped
that the perusal of these pages, with their narratives of
past accomplishments, may inspire a patriotic pride among
our citizens to maintain an honorable place in the world's
history for the Town of Hingham.

hiiiiidbi

M t LKlWLJ^

aiimiihiaiifeifa^aM1^<MMiifcaMfcii IMTmi -iT itmnUim-Mt-u mtut i

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Volume I. — Part L

The Geology of Hikgham • . . Thatnoi T. Bauvi

MiKERALOGT ** **

Notes on Animal Life • • • • ^ **

The Botany of Hingham ... •* **

Trees and Sheubs of Hingham • ' Edward T. Bauvi

Ancient Landmarks *' ^

Early Settlers ••..... John D. Long .

Military History ...... Walter L. Bouvt

76
79
87
139
167
201
209

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Volume L — Part L

Portrait of Thomas T. Bouri 24

Union Street Dike 34

Beach Street Dike 35

Fiom a drawing bj Edwabd T. BounL

Double Dike, Rockt Keck • 49

Fzom a drawing bj Edwabd T. Bodtb.

Pot Holes, Cohassbt 64

Pot Holes, Cohasset 56

Kames near Great Hill 60

Bowlder, Cobb's Bank 67

From a drawing iij Edwabd T. Bout£

Bowlder, Derby Street • • • 68

From a photograph by Gbobob £• Sidbbs.

Main Street, Hingham 140

From a photograph bj Fbahcis H. Lmcour.

Old Elm, East Street 150

From a photograph by Fbakcu A. Osbobb.

Old Elm, Prospect Street 156

From a photograph by Fbaxcis A. Osbobb.

Tittling Bock 164

Engraved by Wallace Corthbll from a photograph by Geohob E. Sidbbs.
Pond Rock, Scituate Pond 169

Engraved by Wallace Corthell from a photograph by Geoboe £. Sidebs.

Home of General Lincoln 180

Main Stbeet, South Hingham 184

From a photograph by Hbkbt F. Guild.

Thaxter House 188

From a photograph by Wjvuau Hudaox.

Corner of Main and Leavitt Streets 190

From a photograph by Fbancu A. Osbobb.

'**'**>*****Mi"*jr^>»'^;^*--g7*^«ff^rtli

HMwMiiMUMliiMMiliyMMH

zii lUuitratiani.

Glad Tidihos Bock 195

EogimTed bj Wallace Cobthbll Iroin a photograph hj GsoxoB £. BfPitt

Spsaguk's BBiDGBy TTniok STBBXr 19f

From a photograph bj HnrmT F. Qvtui,

FORTAAIT OF JoSEPH BlAKB •• ^ 25$

Portrait of General LnrcoLV SO4

General Likcolh's Moitument S06

Portrait of (toyerkor Andrew 842

Statue of (tOyernor Andrew 368

From a photograph bj Hnrmr F. GuilD).

Soldiers* and Sailors' Monument 371

From a photograph bj FkAjrcu H. Lixoour.

•

MAPS TO ILLUSTRATE GEOLOGY.

General Map of Hingham 4

District between Crow Point and Huit's Cots • • • • SO

District betu'een Lincoln Street and Seal's Coyb • • 42

BocKT Neck on Weir River 46

Hingham Village and West Hingham 52

HISTORY OF HINGHAM.

THE GEOLOGY OF HINGHAM,

BY THOMAS T. BOUYli

INTRODUCTION.
Boundary LiKsa.

The boundary-line of Hingham, commencing on the water>
front at Cohasset, near the head of Nantasket Beach, runs west
through an elongated inlet of the sea or bay which lies east of
the lower waters of Weir River, and from thence follows along
this river, and subsequently skirts the coast at the base of the
hills known as Planters' and World's End, in a northwesterly
direction until it passes the latter, when it turns westerly and
crosses outside the harbor of the town and the shores north to
the mouth of Weymouth Back River. From there this river
forms the boundary between the town and a part of Weymouth
to the head of navigation, about three and a halt miles. The other
boundary-lines are artificial, dividing the town on the west from
a part of Weymouth not separated bv the river, on the south and
southeast from Rockland and Norwell, and on the east from Cohas-
set. The boundary -line of the harbor leaves exterior to it Bunkin
Island, which belongs to Hull, and that of the southern boundary
crosses Accord Fond, the beautiful sheet of water from which
Hingham draws its abundant supply.

The shore-line of the water-front of the town, as distinct from
that of the boundary, is much more extensive, following as it does
the numerous indentures of the coast, and embracing the circum-
ference of the islands. Notice should be taken of the distinction
between the boundary and shore lines, as they comprise the limits
between which the marine forms of life appear that may be here-
after mentioned.

The coast bordering upon the Weir River and Bay is of varied
and picturesque character, with its alternating rocky projections
and swampy plains. The shore-line, too, from Crow Point west

TOU I. — 1

2 History of Hinghanu

to the mouth of Weymouth River presents much diversity, and at
Huit's Cove, where the rockj cliffs are covered with forest growth,
the scenerj becomes again quite ijiteresting, and continues so upon
the river front to the head of navigation.

Thb Harbor.

The harbor of Hingham, properly so called, is embraced
an extension of land on the east side which rises into hills of con*
siderable magnitude, the outermost of which is World^s End, and
an opposite shore of less extent, which presents itself partly as a
sandy and stony beach, but having towards its extremity some
rocky prominences, finally terminating at an elevation of land
which received at an early period the name of Crow Point, prob-
ably from the great number of crows that congregated there. In
the harbor, which is from three fourths of a mile to a mile in
width and about one mile and a half in depth, are three beautiful
islands, bearing the names respectively of Ragged, Sarah's, and
Langlec's; of which the first named is particularly picturesque,
from the rugged outline of its coast and the dark savins upon its
crags. They are all of moderate elevation, and shrubs of low
growth cover their undulating surfaces. Only one deciduous tree
is seen, and that a Linden of considerable size, upon the one known
as Lauglce's.^ Besides these three islands, there is yet another near
the shore of the town, and which from its diminutive size received
the name of Button Island. The harbor itself is a charming one
when the tide is in, and by no means lacks beauty when this has
ebbed. True, the lovely sheet of water has disappeared from view,
but the exposed flats are covered everywhere with the dense sea-
grass that rests recumbent on their surfaces, and there is seen
meandering through its sombre green a silvery channel pleasing
to the eye, and which is of sufficient width and depth to admit the
steamers and other vessels that approach the town. Other large
islands lie off the coast of Hingham, but the town line separates
them from its possessions. Particular attention is called to those
of the harbor and to the contour of the coast, in order to the
better understanding of the geological phenomena to be hereafter
presented.

Area.

The area of Hingham, as given in the Town Report for 1885,
p. 76, is 12,978 acres.

The greatest length of the town is that shown by a line from
World's End to the southwesterly point at Rockland. This is over
eight miles.

^ Since the above was written ^onng trees set out upon the two Islands, Sarah's
and I^ngleeX by the present ])ro]»netor, are becoming couspicuooa, and promiife to add
much to the beauty ol their surfaces and of the harbor generaUy by their growth.

I%e Geology of Himgkam,

m
•

The greatest width across the town, direct east and west, is fro
where Scituate touches the boundary to Weymouth. This is fi'
miles. Across the northern part of the town, at the point of i
junction with Hull and Cohasset, west to Weymouth RiTer, tl
width is a little over four and a third miles. Between tliese ti
measurements it narrows on an east and west line to about thn
and a third miles.

Topography.

The topography of Hingham is of such marked character as 1
make it of exceeding interest to those who are at all acquunto
with surface geology. The writer therefore hopes to be able t
impart such knowl^ge of Uiis in later pages devoted to the phc
nomena of glacial action as will add much to the pleasure c
townsmen and strangers alike in travelling over its territory.

The most noticeable features arise from the great number o
the beautiful hills belonging to a class called by Irish geologisti
Druralins, signifying lonff, rounded hills, and by our own country
man, Prof. Charles H. Hitchcock, Lenticular Hills, from thei
lens-like form. They are distinguished by their oval and sym
metrical outlines, by their composition, and by the direction a
their longest axes, which in this region is approximately north
west and southeast They are products of the ice period^ in tiu
treatment of which a full account of them will be given. Otii
Hill, Turkey Hill, Prospect Hill, Baker's Hill, Squirrel Hill, Great
Hill, Planters' Hill, the Hills of World's End, the Hilb of Croti
Point and neighborhood, and many others of lesser magnitude
are of this character. Of much less prominence, but of not lesi
interest to students of surface geology, are the Eames, so called,
consisting of ridges, hills, and hillocks, which occur over a large
portion of territory in the western part of the town. These, like
the Lenticular Hills, owe their origin to glacial action.

In a very general way it may be said that the settlements of the
town rest upon four surfaces of different elevations, namely : one
along the harbor and spreading west towards Fort Hill and Wey-
moutli River ; Lower Plain, so called, which rises from the first-
mentioned, half a mile or more inland ; Glad Tidings Plain, a
slightly higher level which succeeds the last, three or four miles
inland, and which is separated from it by a depression of the land;
and finally, Liberty Plain, the highest of all, reaching to the
soutluTH boundary.

This statement, however, though true of the several settlements
of the town, affords but a very inadequate idea of the diversified
cliaracter of the whole territory, for even the lowest region has
several of the liigh hills mentioned rising from it, and bordering
the second is Turkey Hill, having an altitude of 181 feet, which is
only inferior to the highest of all in town.

«4 Hutory of Hingham.

One of the most prominent of the elevations of the lowest plateau
is Otis Hill, which rises quite near the harbor on its western side.
The views from this are very fine, and should be seen by all who
keenly enjoy an extended prospect. It is said that Daniel Webster
ascended the hill whenever opportunity presented itself, feeling
amply repaid for the necessary exertion in reaching its summit.
On the east, beyond Nantasket Beach and the rocky shore of Co-
hasset, the open sea spreads itself to the vision until lost in tibs
distant horizon ; north, the coast of the opposite side of Massa-
chusetts Bay may be traced until it, too, fades from sight towards
Cape Ann ; and northwest, the domes and spires of the great city,
with the expanse of water gemmed with islands and dotted over
with vessels gliding among them, afford an enchanting scene.
The height of Otis Hill is about 129 feet The still higher ele-
vation of the second plateau, Turkey Hill, before m^ntioned^
affords yet grander views. No one who has not been here can
appreciate the transcendent beauty of such as may be enjoved
from its summit, in looking towards the west and northwest just
as the sun is sinking beneath the horizon, especially when hover>
ing clouds are lit up by its rays and the inter\'ening water is tinted
by their reflections.

The highest elevation of all is that of Prospect Hill, and it it
worthy the name. This is in the soutii part ot the town, and has
a height of 218^ feet Measurements of other hills give the fol-
lowing results: —

Baker's, 141 feet; Squirrel, 138 feet; Great Hill, 120 feet;
Planter's, 118 feet; Old Colony, 70 feet; Liberty Pole, 107 feet;
the highest of the Worid's End hills, 92, the lowest, 66 ; Crow
Point Hill, 81 ; Pleasant, near Crow Point, 98 ; Bradley's, 87 ;
Tucker's, between Crow Point and Pleasant, 65.

Much of the remaining territory presents itself in rounded hil-
locks of various elevations, and in the west part of the town these
prevail over a great area. Unfortunately they have to a great
extent been denuded of trees. Barren warstcs are found, unsightly
to the eye where beauty might abound, and where profit might be
realized if the surface could be devoted to forest culture. Nothing
could be done that would be more advantageous Ito this almost
destitute portion of the town than to cover it with the white pine,
as there can be no doubt but that it would be a wise investment
of money to do this if proper precautions were taken to protect
the growth from destruction by fires.

Independently of the interesting features of the landscape men-
tioned, there is such variety of surface over the town as to make
all parts attractive.

In some portions are miles of rich and rocky woodlands, in
other portions swamps impenetrable from forest growth. In
places, high cliffs of rock rise from above the i;eneral level ; in
others, green meadows of peaceful beauty stretch far before the

of Col

tflom

Us.

. I

'f — "

*^*»"

.w-

Geology ofHingham.

Gexeral ;Map.

Showing the i-elalionsof the

SRADITie ASIA

South Hixgham

TO THE

SEDIMENTARYakdVOLCMIC RQCKS

XorthHingham.

Preparedby Tho" T. BouvC.
Scale: 1 inch - 125 rods.

^mi

•1

The Oeolon qfHingham. 5

•

yision. Here may be seen from some elevation tree-clad hills and
dales ; there, water checkered with islands, and the ocean itself
receding in the far distance from sight. Here one may wander
along a rock-bound coast, with objects of interest everywhere in
view ; or he may seek and find, in deep dark woods, sequestered
glens as far remote seemingly from all hnman surroundings and
associations as would be to him the recesses in the distant moun-
tains. Few towns, indeed, can present more diversified features.

SWjkMPS.

There are numerous swamps in the town, some of which are
quite extensive, as Bare Swamp, which extends over a considerar
hie tract of country, from the neighborhood of the West End depot
to French Street, near Weymouth ; Hemlock Swamp, which lies
between Hobart and High streets ; and several others southwest
of these.

BrvEBflb

Excepting Weymouth Back River, which borders a part of the
town on the west, and Weir River, there are none worthy the
name. Many streams contribute to the latter, the most important
of which has its origin in Accord Pond. Others of its tributaries
flow from the swamps of the town, which, as before stated, are
numerous, especially in its western portions.

PoNna.

Of the ponds of the town delineated on the map, Cushing's,
Tri|>-IIammer, FuUing-Mill, and Thomas', are all artificial.- The
only natural one of any considerable area, of which any portion is
within the borders of Hingham, is Accord Pond. This seems sin-
gular, considering the many natural fine sheets of water which are
found in the surrounding territory. What Nature has, however,
denied, has been in part provided through the enterprise of the
inhabitants, who for manufacturing purposes have dammed the
streams, spread their waters over suriaces bounded by hills, and
thus greatly enhanced the beauty of the scenery in many locali-
ties. Cushing's Pond resulted from the damming of one of the
tributary streams of Weir River, known as Plymouth River ; Trip-
hammer Pond, from the damming of another tributary known as
Beechwood, or Mill River ; Thomas' Pond from the damming of
the main stream ; and Fulliug-Mill Pond from a small stream^
sometimes called Cold Spring.

mmm

PRELIMINAEY REMARKS ON GENERAL GEOLOGr.

Ant account of the Geology of Hingham would necessarilj be
but of little semce to the unscientific reader, unless preceded
bj some remarks upon tlie several rock formations of the earth
and the periods of their deposition. The advance of knowledge
respecting these has been so rapid that the very terms but re-
cently used to designate their relative age are not onl}* obsolete to
a considerable degree, but often misleading. For instance, it is
not long since the word ^* primitive " conveyed to all students the
idea that the rocks so designated, the granites, were. the earliest
formed of all the earth's strata ; but now it is a well-recognized
fact that these have been produced in nearly all periods of geo-
lo^c time. All ideas based upon views taught in the books of
a past generation respecting Primitive, Transition, and Secondary
rocks should be dismissed from thought as being now but of
little or no significance.

In order that the mind may be receptive of the grand ideas
which a knowledge of geological phenomena cannot fail to im-
part, it is necessary first of all to disabuse it of the narrow con-
ceptions of creation which have too long prevailed among men.
It must recognize the sublime truth that the great Power which
permeates and controls all matter has been for inconceivable ages
evolving from the chaos of things the innumerable worlds that
compose the universe; and in fine must look upon the earth we
inhabit, with all its multitude of living and ever-changing forms,
as the result of the constant and never-ceasing action of creative
energy for not only thousands, but for very many millions of
years.

The calculations relative to the age of the earth have been
based upon several grounds, — one astronomical, by estimates of
the time which would be required to reduce the sun from the dimen-
sions embraced within the orbit of the earth to its present size.
This Professor Newcomb makes 18,000,000 years. Add to this
the time which he concludes might have passed before the tcm^
perature of the globe itself would have been reduced so as to
allow of the existence of water upon it, 3,845,000 years, and the
time estimated by him for the development of the several forma-
tions composing the eailh^s strata, which he embraces withia

The CMogy qf Hingham. 7

a period of 10,000,000 years, and we have a total of 81,845,000
years since the globe was separated from the sun in a gaseous
condition, and of but 13,845,000 years since the first inenist^
tion of its surface.

Another method of determining the age has been to base esti-
mates upon the internal heat of we globe and the rate of cooling.
Sir William Tliomson thus concluded that about 80,000,000
years must have elapsed for the globe to cool to its present con-
dition, dating from tho first incrustation upon its surface.

Another method has been to base calculations upon the geo-
logical changes that have been going on during comparatively
recent times, by which sedimentary deposits have been formed
at a known rate of thickness within certain periods. Dr. CrdQ
estimates in this way tiiat not less than 60,000,000 years must
have elapsed, and probably much more since sedimentation began.
Another investigator. Dr. Haughton, on tlie same basis extends
the time to more than 200,000,000 years.

It is unnecessary to add more on this point. It is sufficient to
state that no man cajiable of forming a judgment, and who has
duly investigated the question, has been able to come to any other
conclusion than that our good mother the earth has been revolv-
ing in her orbit, since incrustetion and the commencement of
sedimentation, for millions of years, and whether these be num-
bered by tens or hundreds can be but of little moment, when the
least mentioned is more than long enough to appall the mind in
ite contemplation.

It is however desirable, in view of a better understanding of
what may follow relative to different periods in the earth's history,
to give a teble showing the estimated duration of each, assuming
the whole length of time since incrustation to be 80,000,000
years, as calculated by Sir William Thomson. Of course, if it
I ] should be assumed that the whole period since incrustetion was

more or less than 80,000,000 years, the time estimated for each
period would be proportionately lengtliened or shortened. The
f I time ratios of the several periods have been determined by Pro-

fessor Dana from the relative thickness of the rocky sediments,
and of the probable time required for their deposit, and though
estimates thus based must necessarily be imperfect, yet by them
we can approximate somewhat nearer to the truth than in any
other way. The presentation will be useful in impressing on the
mind of the reader the remote antiquity of the rocks of Hingham ;
for if, as generally claimed, the greater portion of them had their
origin in Archaean Time, basing their age on Sir William^s esti-
mate of the age of the world, they must have been formed more
than 30,000,000 years ago. The table is abbreviated from one
presented in the very valuable work of Alexander Winchell,
LL. D., Professor of Geology and Palaeontology in the University
of ^ilichigan, called " World Life, or Comparative Geology.*'

3%a CMogy qf HSnghmm.

A second table is presented, giving a list of the fonnatioiis ;
the forms of life that appeared in the several periods ; and soma
general remarks upon the land surfaces, the climatic conditions»
and the mountain elevations. Periods not recognized in the first
table are presented in this.

PYROLITHIC
TIME.

ARCIL£AK
TIME.

Azoic Aob.

Eozoic AoB.
Laarentian

Period.
HaroDian

Period.

PALEOZOIC
TIME.

SlLUBIAN AOS.

' Primordial
Period.

fee

Canadian
Period.

Trenton
Period.

If VEL VkOB iMk flf

kaovtodft flf CiM partfetttar m-
riodi la whleb kumcft §armt flnl
fpmi^A, V MtM om <f lb— It wri^y
madb alter ib* «lott 9t
vpoa olbtr Ittb la ib*
ptriodiflr

Indieatioiit of Marine
Plant* and of Protoioa,
the lowest of tiie forma

of ft«y*w^ft l l»f%-

Ase of Inrertebratea.

Marine only :
Plant*, sea-weedn. Ani-
mals, all invertebrates,
Protosoa, Radiata, Mol-
Insca, and Articolata.
Tri1ohiU9 in immense
numberg and of many
species art found. The
largest of these became
extmct before the close
of this period. Crinoidt <
and Sponges appear.

Marine only :
Plants all sea- weeds.
Animals, invertebrates.
Among CtphalojHtdt Of'
thoceras first appear.

Marine almost entirely.
Some late disrorrries of
land plants have been
made m Ohio and Ken-
tucky. Animals all in-
vertebrates.

Fh j^cal eonditioii maUBg Hl»

The cootineDt in Um Eoaofe Am
was limited to a regkm moiW
within Umiis of Bntish MotU
America, bnt embracing, outsida^
the Adirondack region of N. T^
a region in Mich, south of Lake
Superior, a long belt, indnding
the Highland* of N. T., and Um
Bine Ridge of Penn. and YtL^
also areas along the Atkmtie
Coast in Nova Scotia, Newfound
land, and Eastern Maaa.

A long but narrow ridge eodatad
along the line where afterward!
were raised the Rockj Moontaina.
Four-fifth* at leaat of the p— ent
anrface of the coptJnani wate
onder

A mild climate certidnlj preTailed
in the Arctic region* during
these periods, as proved by the
forms of life founa in high north-
em latitudea.

The Appalachian region, embrai^
ing tnat of the Green Moontaina,
was one of shallow waters, whilst
areas of the rock* of Archsean
Time formed island* and ree&.
A barrier was thus partially
formed, which led the interior
continental sea to be company
tively quiet, where flourished
crinoids, mollusks, and corals,
the detritas of which made up
the CTOwing limestone. This
period of physical quiet, Dana
remarks, was probably as long
continued as "all the time that
has since elapsed," a remark cal-
culated to impress the mind veij
forcibly of it* duration.

The Otology of Hingham.

Land PlanU :
Ljoopoda^ Ferniy And

Corals in great nnmbera^
Echinodmu^ l^ilo-
bites.

PitkeMg Jirti appearamet
of m Awiericam roek»i
Sharks, Ganoids^ Flaov
derms; bat no osseous

Land Placts : Ljcopods,
Ferns, Eqaiseta; bat as
et no Mosses.
le Vertebrates are rep-
resented only by Fishes.

GaniatiteM, a aroup of Ct"
phalopodi jfrMi appear.

The

Land PlanU of like cen-
era as in the preoeoing
period.

Tnlobites, so abondant in
former periods, haTe h^

Remains of life rare. Tbs
plants are similar to
those of the Chemang
Period.

The change in life daring
the Devonian Age was
marked by the introdnc-
tion of many new forms
and the extinction of
many old ones, as in pre-
Tioasages.

Articu!ate$ of the Myrio-
poda, a class allied to In-
sects, worm-like bat having
many segments and nn-
roerouf ieetfjirsi appear in
the Devonian Age.

True Insects, of the class
Hexapoda, appear in several
species.

which corals of
lloarished.
The climate wai
bly so over the

gieal laileljf
and piolMiP

In the HamiteoB Period, «xt< ns i T»
forests of Ly copods, some similar
to modem sornces and j^nes and
others widely different irom any
known lamuy, nndoabted^ ex>
isted, as shown by the Jj&fidnh
dendra and Sigillaiia found ia
the strata.

At the dose of the Devoniaii Ag»
the area of the continent had
mnch increased, snd embraced a
large part of East Canada and
New England, bnt the greater
part of North America yet r^
mained beneath the waters.
Neither the Rocky Monntaina
nor the Appalachians yet existed.
The Green Mountains were low
hills compared with their present
height

Great distarbance seems to have
followed the close of the age over
the eastern part of the continen-
tal area leading to elevation of a
great portion of Maine, etc.

The occurrence of Devonian species
in the Arctics shows, as Dana
remarks, that there was bat little
diversity of climate between the
regions' now called Temperate
and Arctic Zonea.

Hisiorjf qf Etngham,

GABBOmFXBOim
AOB.

8iib-Carbontfev-
ons Period.

Otfbonifeiofit
Period.

Period.

Sea-weeds rimOmr to thoee

of the Deronian.
Land Plant*:
Lycopuds, Ferns, Coni-
fen and Calamites.
The animal life was ahon-
dant, at shown by the
prof osion of the remains
of Crinoids.
Of Kadiates : Polyp

Corals.
Of Brachiopods : Spi-

rifer Prodnctos.
Of Cephalopoda : Go>

niatites, Kantilas.
Of Articolates: Trilo-

bites, Orthooeratites^

Scorpions^ etc
Of Fishes : as in Da>

Tonian Age.
Qf Amphibianit Fcti*

Iipmense development of
the coal-forming plants^
the Tree-ferns, tne Ly-
eopocls, Sicillarids, the
Eqoiseta, Conifei^, and
Cycads. Tht latter Jirtt
appeared in this period.

No AngioepermB, no
Palms, no Mosses yet
discoTered.

Plants similar to those of
the Coal Period.

Of animal life, GonSatitei^
which first appeared in
the Hamilton Period;
and Trilobites, which
appeared in the Primor-
dial Period, both had
become esrtinct.

Several genera of the MoV
losca. as Prodnctns,
Orthis^and Morchisonia,
are not found later than
this period.

As might hare been ex-
pected from the immense
development of vegetable
life nnder tropical tempera^
tore, the remains of great
numbers of insects are foond
b the deposiu of the Car-
boniferons Age, durino
which the If Jirst appeared.
Species of the extinct Order
PalsBodictyoptera are esp^
dally abundant, embracing

Daring the Sub-Carboniferous P^
riod a great mediterranean sea^ as
previously, covered a large area
of the interior of the contincait^
and the temperature being fa-
vorable, there was a great devel-
opment of crinoid% corals^ and
tne many forms of life now found
in the strata.

Forests and marsh areas were ex-
tensive. Theperiod was one of
subsidence. Tne condition of the
Arctic regions was yet undoubt-
edly simiuir to the more sonthen
portions of the continent, the idr
oebg warm and moist.

This Period, differing from that of
the Sub-Carboniferous, was one
of extensi\e emergence instead
of subsidence.

As yet the Alleghanies did not ex-
ist, but over their area were great
marshes, where flourishecT the
coal-making plants of the period.

The beds of the Permian are
marine.

Palseozoie Time has now oome te
an end. Great disturbances fol-
lowed, leading to the elevation
of the Alleghany Mountains and

Tk$ Chotogif qf Hi^fiimm^

MESOZOICTIMB.
RsmuAjr Agb.
Tziaaiic Period.

r
I

fc.'

I
f

Jnrufle Period.

Cretaceous Period.

•Dcient tjpeeof eockitMMb-
ei^ walkiBg«tkk% Mv-diei^

Other ezdnct Olden sra
fliio xepieeeBted*

Plaatet
Cjrcede and mw fonne

of FenM^ £qiiieeC%

CoBifm.
Ae qmeim gti wtti wifel

^ GroM er if Oft.
NoPklae.

No An^ioepenBib tlio
ckiB which indadee ell
our New-Eo^end plaate
hariM ft ben^exceptiiw
CoDilm» ee iBepke^ wu-
lowB. biichei^ oftk% ete.
Anfmele;
Vertebialee in peet
iiiimben end of fieet
iiafti Fiehei^ BepcQei^
periuuie Biids>

Flaate:
SimOftr to tboee of tfao
Triaeeie Period.
Anlmele;
GinntieReptneB,!

Uiem flring literdft.
Mrropiil memmale

Biidi.

Pleiite:
/Yrrf opp0ar«iC8 ^fle

Of the AngkMpenne,
oeki, beechee, pophin,
wiUowe,hickorieo,ftiid
otheiB eadited.

WvnA apptarmmm ^
Palma.

B ept D et were Tnj &■•
merooe end of greet siiflL
of whkh.

genoi of whkhy
Moeesenniak had tpeciee
Taiying from fdrtj-ftre
to eight;r f^t ia leagth,
and hanng been make-
like in form, mar well
. he termed, at hrDanar
ee»«erpenu of the era.

In the depoeits of the Pe-
riods of the Reptilian Age,
fixat appear ioiecte of the

toneea changee aloBf tha
of New Enriand, in Kew B
wicky Kovft 8ootia» and genenPf
over an the lailiiiea eaat of m
IflMJMljud

The fbteita of thie period diSmi
mnch from thoee of the Outai"
iferooe in haTlog neither SIglk
laridanorLepidodendfi^ iS^
feme, Conifen, and pjcada ««■•
the peevailing fonne.

There were great dietariiOBeea aC
the eariaoe dating tha 'MaMia
Period, aa ahown hj the vael
ridgee of trap rocke whidi wen
loioed ap throogh the etiatft Im
a molten coodition, and now tern
aone of the prominent elevatioaa
of the eaetem pert of the aoal^
sent, aa Moonta Tom and Ho^
okeof Uaee.,the MghhObBear
Hew Haven, Conn., the Piltoidm
of the HndaoB, ece.

The Juaeeie Beda of Ewope en»
brace thoee of three epodn^^
the Uaeeie, Oolitic and WcOdeB.

The fixat of theee hava jielded
some of the best preeenred and
fineet f oesila that are to he loHii
In oor coUectioBiB^

CretaoeooB rocka are common
a coneiderable portion of Enrop%
in the eootheastem and eontheim
parts of the United 8tatea, and
tn the Rockr Moontaina. The
weU4cnown chalk oompoeee great
beds in England, and is found in
Ftanoe and other parts of Envopab

Great changes of level seem to ha?a
taken place towards the close of
this period, leading to increased
height of the land m the northern
regions, caosing mnch change in

^ji^msitMmtiwim'ivmi

History of Hingkam.

C£NOZOIC
TIME

TsKTlAmT AOB.

Lanunie Pe-
riod (orLig-
nitie r.).
HvEL— Tbbpvlod

ll iBdodtd Xnf MMM

«okii^ la th« Cr»-

AWmauk Period
(tame m Eocene)

Orden OrthoptenL Kenrop-
tera, Uemiptera, UrnieDop-
teza,_ Coleoptera, Dipten^
and

Plants:
The depoBits of this pe-
riod yield great uom-
bers of the leaves of
Angiosperms,^ species
of oak, poplar, maple,
hickorr, fig, magpolia,
and others ; alsoof Con-
ifers and palms. Nuts
of some species

Animals:
Freshwater shells and
some marine >PJ^0^
Ko mammala Fishes
and Reptiles hsTs been
loond m the Ijaramie
beda.

Plants:
Trees mostlj of the
same genera ss those of
the present period.
The iDfusonal deposits
near Richmond, Va.,
yield a large namber of
spedes of Diatoms.

Animali:
The remains, Tertebr«,
and teeth, in great num-
bers, of a large animal
allied to a whale, called
the Zeoglodon Cetoides,
are fonnd in the de>
posiu of this period in
the States of Georgia,
South Caroliiia, Mis-
sisitippi, and Alabama.
The animal was at least
seventy feet in lenj^b.

In beds of this period in the
west are found remains
of species similar to
those of the present, ss
the rhinoceros. Mexican
wild boar, horse, mon-
kej, and others, smong
them the earliest of the
squirrels. Of the birds,
one species from the
Eocene of New Mexico
was larger than the
I ostrich.

the climstes and a genersl d^
stmctioo of the life then existing
upon or near the suHaoe in bm

Estnaiy deposits in MisrissippI, im
the region of the Upper Missooi^
in the RockT Mountain regioi^
and at Branoon, Vt.

Called the Licnitic Period becanse
of the prev^ence of Ijgnitic beds
in the dqnsiti.

Great disturbance of the snrfaos im
North America at the close of
this period, that led to the elen^
tion of moimtains in California^
which, increased undoubtedly bj
subsequent movemtets^ aie now
4/)00 feet high.

Further disturbances at the close
of this period, raising the boi^
ders of the Gulf of Mexico, and
probablr elevating above the pre-
vious height the Rocky Mountain
region*

lis Chologjf qf Bimi^kmu

Yorktowu Ftoiod.
(Miooraflw)

Sumter Period.
(Pliocene.)

I ■

QUATERXAST AOB.

Glacial Period.

Champlain Period.

Wludei^ dolpUni^ aeak^
wahniei, booee of Uf
irfr-Uke snlmli^ And of
Mw mciee of lionea
•ad cil bogii rliiaoe»>
roeeeof wrtrU geaer%
wohiib Ilon% bee;veK%

OfBWr^

* nnd eonBonndi.

Of fiftmlnale* ekptail%

deer, tifm^

An dM Olden of Ineeeli
tbe remeine of whidl are
found in tlie Meooeoie de>
poeite are alio fepteBguHd
In tlie CBnoaoifc Gmft
nnmbera of ipedea 1iai«
been preienred to na fai
amber, a loaeil fom of tbe
TeitiaijAfa.

Entire deatmction of life
orertbe glaciated Kortb
wbicb extended in tbe
eaatem jpart of tbe
United Statea aa far
aontb aa Pennaylvania.

Animal life: read nnder
next period.

Tbe animal life of tbe two
earlier periods of tbe
Quaternary Age was of
remarkable character,
especially as shown bj
the remams of tbe Mam-
mals found both in
Earope and AmericiL
These show that tbe
spedea were of eno^
mooa sixe compared witli

Dninfthla period, and
•I Ita doaa^ there la

i.'TS

poitloB of tha
great Tolcanle aetioBt
legiooa of tbe Fadfle abpa
ovecfloiwed br Xgnaooa locsa ta

^n^ tba Roekj If onntaiai ijbal
to their p r eaea < ekratJen. Thrir
npriae during the TartiaiT Agi^
aoeoidbg to DiaBa» eoud Ml
have been leaa than WJSM lialb
The beiAt 1 whiA the daporiti
of the iDoeene Bariod are mai
OS the aontheaat and aovthan
eoaat, being aararal bnndnd Im^
above the extent of the

The lAonhaticbe^flf 8ovlihOn^
Hon are of thla period*

A period generallj regarded aa<
of extreme oold, hot there ie
eon to think the dmee of thla
has been exag|nratea. lee cor*
ered Eastern North America to
tbe height of from 2,000 to «,000
leei.

Tbe period of tbe passing away of
tbe ice, and of great floods ; a
period, too, of considerable de-
pression of .the surface and of
extensiye alluvial deposita.

The Otology qf Hingham.

ExpuLXATiov or Naxxs or FoBJCAxxon^ BTa» hkxtiowbd ni nn Tablm abotb.

Pyrolithie. From the Greek, lire tto n t.

^rcAifflii. Ancieat ; the beginniiiip.

^rofic Withoat life.

Eozoie. Dmwn of life.

Pal(Ko:oiCm Ancieut life.

Mtsoxoic Middle life.

Ccenazaie, Recent life.

Primordial. First in order.

Silurian. Geographical^ fint applied to

rocks of Silnria.
Devonian. Geographical^ fint applied to

rocks of Devonsnire.
Carboni/erouM, Haring the fleet ooal

fields.
Cretaceous, Latin, for chalky.
Triassie, Karoed f^m a seme of three

kinds of rocks.

JuroBBic Geogr^hkal, from loefcs of

Mt. Joia.
Permian. Geographical, from rocka «C

Permia, an ancieat kingdom of Russia.
Tertiary. Adopted from old rlassHlr»>

tion, when the terms Primarr, Second-

aiy, and Tertiary emhraced all the xock

formationa.
Comi/tnmg. From Latin eonm, hom, and

/er9, 1 hear, the rocks hearing seams of

bomstoDe.
Quaternary. From Latin oaoftisr, fou^

applied to straU fonowbg Ttetiaij

(third).
Salina. From iU ssH-hearing hriaea;

ealina, in I^Jitin, being a plaoe wbeva

salt is madeb

Other names geographical of known localities wiU not need explanataosu

Ptrolithic Time. — Jls the name denotes, the Pjrolithic for-
mations were igneous only, for the condition of the molten, but
gradually cooling globe admitted of none other. The immense
period required for any approach to stability of the surface must
have witnessed constant changes upon it, and over and over again
must the earlier incrusted portions have been broken up and re-
melted as they became from time to time, through the shrinking
consequent upon refrigeration, submerged in the incandescent
sea. At length when consolidation of the surface had increased^
rocky masses undoubtedly appeared above the general level, but
these were necessarily of a different character from any now
known. They were the truly primitive rocks, and it is very
doubtful if any trace of them can be found on the earth.

Abch^an Time. — Previous to the formation of the rocks of
Archaean Time, the cooling of the globe had proceeded to a de-
gree allowing the existence of water in the atmosphere and its
deposit upon the surface. Of its earlier rocks we can know as
little as of those of Pyrolithic Time, for all now recognized appear
to be the result of the wearing down of pre-existing formations,
the deposit of their ddbris in the form of sands and clay as sedi-
ments in water, and the subsequent crystallization of much of the
material into gneisses, mica slates, etc. Other rocks of the time
are conglomerates, sandstones, and clay slates.

There is evidence that both vegetable and animal life existed
in this early time, but only in its lowest forms.

PaLuEozoic Time; Silurian Age; Primordial Period. — The
rocks of this period were formed from the wearing away of those
of Archaean Time, and the reconstruction of the material into new
strata. Great interest is felt in these because, so far as clearly
shown, they contain impressions of the remains of the first organ-

TOL.I.— S

The Gealojn of Hingham. 19

years. It was not until after the dose of this age that the
Alleghany Mountains were elevated, bearing up with them the
Carboniferous matter which now makes up the great body of the
coal found in their strata.

To the Carboniferous Age succeeded the Triassic, Jurassic, and
the Cretaceous Periods of Mcsozoic Time, and the several periods
of the Tertiary Age in Csuozoic Time. It was during the Crete-
ceous Period of uie former, and the periods of the latter that
deposits were made along the eastern and southern shores of
North America, forming strata which by subsequent elevation
now compose a considerable part of the middle coast States, and
nearly the whole of those that border the Gulf of Mexico, and
it was, too, during these periods that a large portion of the strata
now composing me Rocky Mowitains were formed beneath the
waters. These mountains did not attain to their present elevation
until near the latter part of the Tertiary Age. The Reptilian and
Tertiary Ages passed without leaving any traces now recognizable
on the territory of Hingham.

Wc have now reached a period which has received the name of
Glacial, and which calU for particular notice, because nowhere
perhaps can results of the extraordinary phenomena attending it
be more readily seen than in Hingham. The extent of the change
made upon the whole surface of the land north of Pennsylvania
can never be fullv realized, and it wasprobably as great over this
town as over a like area anywhere. What were the distinguish-
ing characteristics of this period 7 We have seen that in a pre-
ceding age, when the coal of the great coal-fields of the continent
was laid down, the climate everywhere north was tropicaL We
now find it to have changed to one of great cold, and that this
continued, if we may rely on the estimate made by Thomson,
more than 350,000 years. Life became extinct under its inflo*
ence, and over nearly the whole land north of Pennsylvania there
came to be a covering of ice several thousand feet in thickness,
which, governed by the same influences that affect the great
bodies of ice in glacial regions at the present time, moved steadily
and majestically towards the south, throwing off icebergs where
it reached the sea, as is the case with the glaciers of Greenland
now, and gradually melting and thinning out as it approached
warmer latitudes on the land surface.

Through the investigations of the Rev. G. Frederick Wright,
Mr. Warren Upham, and others, we now have certain knowledge
i of a great part of the boundary line of the glacial sheet over the

I land, from as far west as Illinois to the Atlantic, this being well-

marked by the morainic deposits of the debris brought from
northern regions in and upon the ice, and deposited at its margin.
Want of space will not permit the writer to dwell upon these, but
the reader is assured that their character cannot be mistaken.
The terminal moraine has a very irregular course east from Illi-
i I nois, passing through the States of Indiana, Ohio, a part of Ken-

The Geology qf Hingkam. 81

and became imbedded in the substance of the glacier below, thcj
must necessarily have exerted an immense gougins force as tfacj
were borne on; and consequently we see everjrwnere npon the
rock-surfaces of New England deep traces of their passage^ always
sbowiDff the direction of the gretA glacial movement These
generally are found to be not utr from south, 40^ east, in this
region. Many thousands of years have elapsed since these were
traced, but still they are distinctly visible.

The Glacial Period of intense cold, of the wearing away by the
ice of the rocks over which it passed, of the excavation of v^evs
by its action, at length came to an end, and was followed bv the
Champlain Period. This period was of marked contrast with the
preceding. It was one of great depression of the whole sur&oe
of the North in boUi hemispheres, and this was probably the causa,
partly at least, of the great increase in the temperature which led
to the melting away of the ice sheet that had for an immense
period covered the earth. Land that now stands at considerable
height was below the level of the sea, as shown by forms of
marine life found at various elevations in northern New England,
where it is evident they lived and died when submerged in the
waters. Contrary to views tliat have been hitherto presented,
this depression did not affect the surface to any considerable
degree south of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The
occurrence of shells and other marine remains in elevated pori-
tions above the sea, often cited as proofs of depression, at Point
Shirley near Boston, and at Sancati Head, Nantucket, has been
satisfactorily demonstrated to have been the result of the scoop-
ing up from the bottom of the adjacent waters by the ice-sheet
the material forming the Till Hills, in which such remains have
been found. In these hills the shells do not occur, as in Maine
and elsewhere north, in beds, showing the places they occupied in
life, but scattered indiscriminately throughout the mass of mik
terial, and generally in a fragmentary condition.

The degree of subsidence north, as shown by the heights at
which remains of marine life have been found, increased with the
latitude. On the coast of Maine the highest stated is 217 feet
above the sea; at Lake Champlain near 400 feet; on the St.
Lawrence near Montreal, 500 feet ; about the Bay of Fundy, near
400 feet ; on the Labrador coast, from 400 to 500 feet ; and at
places in the Arctic regions, 1,000 feet These figures are taken
from Dana.

As the glacier melted, great floods poured over and from it,
and the stones, sand, and gravel in it were distributed over the
land. It was a period of deposition of earthy matter from the ice,
and of subsequent redistribution of portions of it by the waters.
The direct deposits as now found are not stratified, or but very
artially so, and are known as diluvium, while those which fol-
owed, the result of the action of the waters in redistributing the
material, are known as alluvium. It was in this period that

idBUilKllMiftiHiMlllifeiMlitittNyaiidi

22 History cf HinghanL

were formed the terraces so common alone the borders of some
of the river valleys of New England, and of tiie kames, soK^led^
of which notice will be present^ hereafter.

Following the passing away of the ice-sheet came another great
change over the area which it had so long occupied. The sun*s
rays again rested upon and warmed the surface of the land, ren-
dering it a fit abode for the manifold forms of vegetables and
animals that appeared upon its remodelled hills and plains. The

Keen herb and the fruit-bearing tree sprang up, and adorned the
ndscape with beauty. Rivers again teemed with life, birds and
insects hovered in the air, and beasts small and large trod the
eaith ; while among these last walked with majestic mien Man^
the crowning glory of all created forms.

The remains of life of this period, and even of the Glacial pre-
ceding it, demonstrate the existence of a great number of species
of enormous size, such as were not found in either earlier or later
eras. Of course, while the ice covered the surface but few forms
could maintain life within its area, but it was otherwise south of
its margin, and when it had passed away huge monsters roamed
over the surface, spreading from more southern regions far to*
wards the Arctic Circle in both hemispheres. In Europe, elephants
of great size, gigantic deer, tigers surpassing the Bengal of the
present day, horses and oxen proportionally large, and many
other beasts occupied the land in vast numbers ; while in America
there were elephants, mastodons, horses, beavers, and sIofliR,
including the megatherium, the mylodon, and mcgalonyx, — all of
colossal dimensions compared with the animals of like character
now living. But of far greater importance than all else, Man as
stated, undoubtedly appeared. With feeble frame he came among
races of gigantic stature and strength ; but he came to. wield do-
minion over them, and to subdue and conquer by other power
than that hitherto possessed on earth. It is not known precisely
when Man first appeared, but the evidence is strong that it was
in a pre-glacial period, as implements undoubtedly of human con-
struction have been found in transported material from deposits
of an anterior date.

Again, a great change in the surface level of the North, and
increased cold followed in Europe by a second glacial era, which
by its sudden advance carried death to many of the animals that
had found a home far north in the warmer Champlain Period.
This is shown by the carcasses of elephants, and the perfect
preservation of their flesh in Arctic ice. The change must have
been not only sudden, but the cold ef tremely severe to account
for these encased remains, and for other phenomena, such as the
extension of the range of the reindeer and other Northern species
to southern France where their bones have been found abund-
antly. This, and the advance of ice again over parts of northern
Europe gave the name of Reindeer, or Second Glacial Epoch to the
early part of the Recent Period. There is no conclusive evidence

Th§ Otology <ff Himgkam.

of a second advance of the glacier on the American continent^
though there is abundant proof of great refrigeration in tempera^
ture, which was probably toe principal cause of tlie extinction of
most of the large animals, the elephants, mastodons, horses, and
other species before mentioned, that roamed over the northern
plains.

The modem era of the period, that of the reign of Man, shows
that the same causes tliat have produced changes of level of the
surface and of temperature are yet active. There is evidence of
the gradual subsidence of Greenland, and tliat it has been sinking
slowly for centuries, and that a like change has been going on
along a great part of the eastern coast of the United States. 0|i
the other hand it is shown that in other regions there has been a
gradual elevation. The formation of rocks still goes on as in
former times ; the ocean depths receive as in past periods the
remains of siliceous and calcareous shells from the multitudinons
forms that live in its waters ; the coral animals yet build up their
reefs to become part of the strata of the dry land of the luture;
volcanic action continues as of old to add to the surface its lavas,
and vegetable life as in earlier ages of the earth's history, by ao-
cumulation of peat and other plant structure, contributes some-
thing towards future formations.

Having thus by a rather elaborate preliminary essay presented
what the writer has deemed essential to an understanding of the
Geology of Hingham, by those who have not made the earth's
history a study, he proceeds to remark upon the phenomena
observable within the town limits, referring to what is exterior
only as far as may be necessary for a clearer idea of the subject

m^^tmtmitmmaiiimm^mt^mjtmtmmm^^

24 Histary cf Hinghauu

GEOLOGY OF HINGHABl

The geology of Hingbam, particularly that of the northern part
of the town, though interesting, is of too abstruse a character to
be even partially understood except by those who hare made the
rock-formations of the vicinity of Boston a study ; and its elucida*
tion will require on the part of the writer much reference to what
is exterior to the limits of the town. That of the greater portion
of its territory inland is more simple, exhibiting Granite as the
prevailing rock, but having some areas of Diorite, and occasion*
ally dikes of Diabase, which cut through the others, and appear
at the surface as black or dark-green rocks traceable often for
considerable distances, having a width sometimes of but few
inchch, but frequently of several feet. Petrosilex is also found
associated with the granite, but in very limited exposures.

GEANITB.

This has been mentioned as the prevailing rock of a large por-
tion of the town. It seems necessary to first define what is meant
by the name before referring to its particular exposures on the
surface and its variation in character. Until quite recently geolo-
gists called all such rocks as were composed of quai-tz, feldspar,
and mica, granite ; using the term ^^ syenite" to distinguish those
which had hornblende in the place of mica. When all four min-
erals were found together, the rock was called homblendic granite.
The advance of the science of lithology has led to more strict defi-
nition. Now the use of the name '' syenite " is restricted to rocks
composed of orthoclase (one of the group of feldspars), or ortho-
clase and hornblende, or orthoclase and mica ; while the essential
constituents of granite, as now defined, are quartz and orthoclase.
If to these mica is added it is called micaceous granite, and if
hornblende, homblendic granite. Hence the rock of Hingham,
as well as of Quincy, is granite, and not syenite, as it is often
designated.

Over the whole of South Hingham and the greater part of
Hingliam Centre, wherever there are exposures of rock above
the surface it is granite, excepting only the material of the dikes
which are frequently found within it, and which will be hereafter

mentioned. Oraidte too undeiiies the whole of the areas named
now covered over br the days, the sands, and the grsTels of the
glacial period. It also extends north to the shore on Wdr River,
and to the coast line of the harbor on the eastern shores whan it
is found bordering the channel from near the steamboat landing
to Martin's Well, and showing itself prominent upon the adjacent
uplands. It appears also within the narbor upon the small islsad
known as Button Island. The rock varies in di£Ferent localities^
beiug sometimes found composed entirely of quarts and orflM^
close, but sometimes with mica added, making it a tme micaceous
granite. The color varies generally with that of the orthoclase»
which is often of a reddish hue. Quarts veins are not infreqaraft
in it, but these rarely furnish crystals ; some, however, ot fine
amethystine tint were obtained a few years since from the xod^
of Old Colony HilL

The granite of Hingham is generally too mucn fissured to afford
good blocks for building, though there are locations where, if
better situated for cheap transportation of material, stone mig^
be quarried to advanta^ Near Long Bridge Lane a anarrj was
opened and worked for 'several years by Mr. Israel WhitcomhL
and much excellent stone was obtained and made use of for local
requirements.

There are many places where fine red granite is found, but the
color is not often persistent over any considerable area, and the
stone is not sufficiently free from cracks to admit of good blocks
beiug procured, though possibly these might disappear to some
extent at a small distance from the surface.

The exposures of granite are very numerous. A few that differ
from the rest in general character are here mentioned : —

In Lasell Street, reddish with epidote.

In Central Street, red and flesh-colored from the tint of the orthodasSb

In Union Street, with flesh-colored orthodase.

In Thayer Street, red, nearly binary.

In French Street, flesh-colored, with nuca and homUende.

In AVhiting Street, very flne structure, light-colored and nucaoeooSi

with very nameroos joints.
In Summer Street, red, mostly binary.
In Emerald Street, red, mostly binary.
In Beechwood Street, decompodng.
In Thaxter Street, flnely porphyritic with red orthodase crystals.

Specimens of these may be found in the collection of the
Public Library.

DIOBITB.

Diorite, as mentioned, is found within the region generally
occupied by the granite rocks, but it nevertheless may be noticed
that in Hingham it is not found far from the sedimentary forma*

26 Histary of Hingham.

tions, no exposure of it having been observed in all the region
south of Hingham Centre. This rock contains necessarily bat
one constituent, a triclinic feldspar, usually oligoclase, but it has

Snerally associated with it hornblende. Sometimes mica b also
imd in it and not infrequently particles of quartz.

In Hingham, when composed of feldspar and hornblende in
nearly equal proportions and when the grains of eadi are clearly
perceptible, it appears not unlike granite, but having no quartz as
a general constituent it may be readily distinguished. In limited
areas it is found almost entirely of feldspar, when it presents
itself simply as an impure white rock, its character being conse*
quently more obscure.

One of the best exposures on a highway of the town of typical
diorite occurs in Summer Street, on tlie right side going soutti
from the railroad, crossing, and within 100 feet of Kilby Street.
It juts into the road from the adjoining field, and presents itself
witti a smooth, rojinded face about twelve feet across, on which the
two minerals, feldspar and hornblende, are well defined and plainly
visible. Two other exposures may be seen between the one men-
tioned and Kilby Street, and in the field back from the road are
several ridges of it.

Another interesting exposure of diorite on a highway is to be
found on the surface at the top of Fort- Hill, just front of the
cemetery. Here it is cut through by numerous narrow veins of
a whitish granite, which by distortion and separation of parts
afford an interesting study for the observer. The rock of this
locality should not be disturbed, as there is no other known
instance in town where gi'anite can be seen so clearly to have
been intruded in veins into the diorite. The exposure here, too,
is interesting from the glacial strias which may be plainly seen
upon its surface.

Diorite occurs abundantly on East, Kilby, Weir, and Hull

streets.

Going northeast from Horticultural Hall on East Street, some
rocky elevations appear on the left side of the road which are
known as Andrew Heights. The rocks of the slope facing the
street are diorite, with the exception of an intervening portion
of granite. This last rock also appears on the land opposite the
diorite back from the road. Beyond the heights mentioned, all,
or nearly all, the rocks of the street and of land contiguous are
diorite until Kilby Street is passed.

Intermediate between Andrew Heights and Kilby Street, by a
reduction of the level of the road over an elevation, and the neces-
sary excavation of rock, there is left exposed on the left side a
cliff of considerable interest. The main body is a dark diorite,
but there may be seen by close examination a distorted dike of
felsite eight or ten inches in width, and a mass of diabase trap,
botli of which have been intruded into it The trap contains an

unusual quantity of sulphide of iron in erjilalti m maj be

in specimens from this localitj deposited in the general eoUeetfoa.

of the Public Library.

The diorite of the area of Hus rock under eonrideralion does
not follow on East Street beyond Kilbjr, as its trend whidi It'
northeast and southwest, leads to its development along the latter
street which has the same direction, and where it is found shoi^ .
ing itself on the road and adjoining; lands at Tarions pcnnta lor
more than half a mile. At the junction of East and Blilbjr stt ee to
it follows the curve from the former to the latter direetnr in liie
roadway. Passing northeast on Kilby, it may be observed in limp
ited exposures on the left of the road until the crossing of the rail-
road is reached, where there is a lateral extension of it 800 feet
west on the line of the rails, and 150 feet east About 600 feet
from the crossing it again appears on the left side of the s tre et ^
followed at a short distance bV granite. On the right side of liie
road at 940 feet from the railrwid may be seen a rock exposure
presenting a face towards the street of about thirfy feet| the firyt
portion of which for twenty feet is diorite, the rest being granibeb
Proceeding 420 feet more along the road there will be seen ledm
on the left side back from the street which extend for a further
distance of about 270 feet These are all diorite. After pasdnsr
these 130 feet, there may be observed on the ridit of the rMd, and
just beyond the fence which borders it a face of rock about twenty
feet in width, the first portion of which, about one third, is granitiL
and the rest diorite. The two rocks are separabed by a diagimal
line having a declination of 45* N. E., thus sliowing the latter rook
as resting somewhat upon the former. Just beyond this exposure
granite follows for a distance of about 70 feet There are no fm^
ther exposures of diorite on the road towards Rockland Street^tlie
few outcrops of rock observed there being all granite.

Another area of diorite exists near the eastern border of liie
town towards Cohasset, showing itself extensively on Weir, Eastf
Side Hill, and Hull streets.

On Weir Street going from East Street, there is scarcely any
other rock observable for at least one third of a mile. Beyond
this, it alternates more or less with granite for about one eighth
of a mile, when it gives place entirely to the latter. On the east
side of the street, 2,310 feet from East Street, there is an exposure
of rock presenting a face to the carriage-way, showing a singular
mixture of both diorite and granite.

This will be again and more particularly referred to in remarks
to follow upon " mixed rocks," — a name given by Professor Crosby
in treating of a like association observed by him at Marblehead
and SalenL

As a general fact, it may be stated here that the diorite of Weir
Street is not so clearly typical as that of East and Kilby streets
before described. A preponderance of the feldspar and partial
decomposition, gives it in some cases a dirty white exterior.

28 HUtory <(f

On East Street, passing from Side Hill Street towards Cohasset,
may be found in the fields adjoining the right side of the road
and back from it many extensive ridges of rock. Short of 200
feet a small exposure of granite occurs just within the fence-wall,
and a little fui-ther on, say twenty or thirty feet, is one of diorite.
Back of these about sixty feet is another of diorite. Following the
road 810 feet from these, rock appears in patches over the sur-
face for eighty feet, extending some distance back from the fence,
which is likewise diorite. Passing beyond these exposures 140
feet, fields of rocks are reached occupying a great part of the sur-
face for at least 700 feet Some of them are diorite, some granite,
while others among them, presenting surfaces of both diorite and
granite, are apparently of the singular combination mentioned as
mixed rocks. It would, lioweTcr, be necessary to blast them in
order to verify this.

On the left side of the road there are but few exposures, and
these are of the same general character as those mentioned.

On Side Hill Street, and in fields adjoining, diorite appears
abundantly. At a distance of 810 feet from East Street, a small
exposure may be found on the right side of the roadway, and fifty
feet beyond this another just within the border fence. Proceeding
800 feet fuillicr there is within view on the fields at the right many
ridges and smaller rock masses extending over an area of two or
three acres, all or nearly all of which are of the same rock. On
the left of the road, 620 feet from East Street, a long ledge of rocks
skirts the carriage-way, which extends 280 feet. For the first few
feet it is diorite, the rest of it is granite. Granite is also the pre-
vailing rock on the high ground of the adjoining field.

When entering Hull Street from East Street, diorite appears on
the right side, close to the junction of tlie two streets, both on the
border of the roadway, and within the enclosure of the adjoining
estate. Proceeding on Hull across the railroad, a high cliff of
rock is seen back from the street, 200 feet or more in length, which
exhibits upon some portions sui*faccs of diorite, upon others granite,
— showing it to be probably of the mixed character mentioned in
previous cases and to be described hereafter. This is succeeded
by granite, and there is no more exposure of diorite on or near the
street until about 2,060 feet from the railroad, where a ridge of it
appears on the field at the left, not far from 200 feet from the
fence ; and 300 feet farther some may be seen on both sides of the
road. The rock exix)sures beyond these are all granite, until after
passing Canterbury Street between three and four hundred feet,
when there may be seen ridges on the fields skirting the left side
of the road and extending for a quarter of a mile or more, which
are likewise of the mixed diorite and granite. The rocks of the
last 300 to 400 feet of the street within the town Ihnits are all

granite.

All the exposures of diorite within the territory of the town that
may be observed in passing along the streets and lanes have been

2%e Otology <tf ffingham.

mentioned, except a limited one on Central Street, between foor
and five hundred feet from Elm Street, in a field adjoining the
west side of the road, and two others of small area on a field at
the corner of Central and Elm streets. Away from usual travel
between Fort Hill Street and Weymouth River the rock appears
in numerous exposures. Reference to the map will give their
location.

MIX£D BOCKS. |

The rocks so-called by Professor Crosby, though simply com-
posed of a mixture of the two kinds already described, are of such
peculiar combination as to seem worthy of notice under a separate
heading. There is no appearance among them, as far as observed,
of anything like a dike of either penetrating the other. There i»
found simply a mixture of masses of every size and shape, each
single mass being clearly distinctive aa granite or diorite, the ele-
ments of one in uo case coalescing- generally with the other. The
locations of these rocks have been mentioned in the remarks upon
the diorite.

There seems no way of accounting for such mixture except by
supposing that at tlic time of their eruption the rocks existed sep-
arately beneath the surface in two contiguoiia zones, both t>eing in
a plastic condition, and that when forced to the surface they were
made to intermix so as to present thcmselvea aa now foond.

PETBOSILEX.

The rocks of Hingham hitherto known as porphyry, compact
feldspar, and felsite, the writer classes under the name of petrosi-
lex, as with but one or two exceptions to be mentioned, all belone
to that division of such rocks as contjiin over 63 or 64 per cent of
silica, and which Phillips and others have designated as petrosilei,
retaining the name felsite for (hose of a more basic character, and
having a plagioclase feldspar instead of orthoclase as a constituent.

The name "porphyry" is no longer in use as a substantive by
gcolofpsta. It H'us applied by the ancients to rocks generally ho-
mogeneous, hut which contained crystals, commonly feldspar ; and
this use continued to modem times. As, however, the rocks so*
called differed widely in composition, and it became necessary in
the progress of science to define their character more particularly,
the name became obsolete. Tlie word " porphyritic," however,
remains in common use as an adjective expressing the texture of
rocks of a homogeneous base, having crystals disseminated throngb-
out their mass. Thus petrosilex with enclosed crystals is calTed
porphyritic petrosilex, and diabase, the rock of trap dikes with
enclosed crystals, is called porphyritic diabase or porphyritic trap.

The writer, in conmiunications to the Boston Society of Naturtl

. im^m^mnmi^mtm ^-\

fmmtBmmiiiktmMmi^iiimAMmm

90 Hiatarjf qf Hingham.

EBstorj and otherwise, has expressed the opinion that much of
the petrosilex of the Boston Basin, and particularly the red rock
of Hingham, was derived from conglomerate. This view is not
held by others, whose opinions are entitled to respect ; but this has
not shaken confidence in his own. There is petrosilex, however,
in Hingham of quite a difiPercnt character, but which he clums
has another origin. Mention of that will follow some further
remarks upon the red variety.

Prof. Edward Hitchcock, in his great report upon the *^ Geology
of Massachusetts," mentions under the head of Porphyry the red
rock now under consideration, as occurring in ffiugham in ridges
a little north of the village. Undoubtcdlv this accurate observer
found such ridges, though but one small exposure can now be
found above the surface. This is near the junction of Crow-Point
Lane and Downer Avenue. Masses of this beautiful rock may be
seen in the stone walls of Lincoln Street near Thaxter, and sug-
gest to the mind that in widening this street for the greater con-
venience of travel the ridges noticed were destroyed*

The rock is called above beautiful. Professor Crosby speaks of
it as the most beautiful of any in Massachusetts, and it undoubt-
edly is so. The color is a bright red, with interspersed spots of
lighter or darker hue. The variation was caused apparently in
some cases from the enclosure of pebbles, which, with the general
mass, became more or less fluent. The pebbly structure can be
better seen on weathered surfaces than on those caused by recent
fracture.

The other variely of petrosilex referred to above, differs essen-
tially from the red, being of different color, rather more glassy in
lustre, entirely homogeneous, and presenting no appearance indi-
cating enclosed pebbles. Of the origin of this variety there can
be no question. It has the chemical constitution of granite, oc-
curs associated with it, and is undoubtedly the same with granite,
excepting that its mineral constituents are not crystallized, the
rock being too rapidly cooled to admit of crystallization. This
variety is always in Hingham associated with the granite. It may
be found with the granite that forms the cliffs of Peck^s Pasture,
bordering the Home Meadows, and also on Lincoln Street, in the
rear of the first house next north of the Unitarian Church which
faces Fountain Square. Specimens from these and other localities
are in the collection of the Public Library, where may also be seen
those of the red variety.

PORPHYRITE.

The name Porphyrite has been given to basic rocks differing
but little in composition from Diorite and Diabase. Like them
they are composed of a triclinic feldspar with hornblende or
augite, but they are not, like them, crystalline granular. They

4 fl

-J"

TU Oeologif qf Himgham. ' 91

contain from 56 to 58 per cent of siBca. Bocks of tfait ehar>etBr»
of various shades of color, are found at Nantasketi but only ona
exposure has been noticed in Hin|rhani. This is on the shore of
the marsh land that borders Weir Biver, quite near Bocky Neoic
At this place it is of a dark-brown color, similar to that of the
brown sandstone commonly nsed in structnres of Boston and
New York. It is a heayr, tough rock, and undoubtedly owes its
origin to volcanic action, being, like mdaphjr, an ancient lava.

DIABASE.

Diabase, like Diorite, is composed partlj of a tridinic Feldspar^
generally Labradorite, but differs from it o^rwise in having
Augite associated widi it instead of Hornblende. Not xaatr^
qucntly Mica is found in its composition, and dften Pyrite, though
these are not essential ingredients. This rock is generally known
as Trap, and the dikes which it forms in all parts of the town axw
called Trap Dikes. The rock as exposed at the surface ezhiUts
more or less the fesults of decomposition, becoming off a didl
green color, from the change of the Augite to Yiridite. It has a
much hidber spedfic gravity than granite, and is exceedinj^y
tough. The bluish, close-grained masses often found in the MU
and called Blue Bocks are of this kind.

Diabase forms dikes alike in the granitic rocks off the town,
and in those off the Slates and Cong^omeFstes to be hereafter
mentioned.

DISSS.

Having now noticed all the rocks off the Crystalline series found
in Hiugham, — Oranite, Diorite, Petrosilez, and Diabase, — and
as each of them is found in dikes within the Boston Basin, two off
them at least in Hingham, it seems fitting to present here some
special remarks upon the form of structure known under that
name, and to give an account of localities where they may be
observed.

Dikes are igneous, unstratified rocks, which occupy fissures in
the formations, and which have been forced up from beneath the
surface of the earth in a liquid or semi-liquid state, into the
superincumbent rocks.

This molten material undoubtedly at first spread itself, as does
the mgdern lava of volcanoes, over considerable areas after reach-
ing the surface. As seen in Hingham, the rock of the dikes is
usually found only within the walls of the fissure that gave it pas-
sage, the decomposition and washing away of the hundreds of feet
of solid matter that once formed the surface having generally left
for our view only what is now seen within narrow limits. Often,
in forcing a passage through the invaded rock, masses of the latter

82 History qf Hingham.

were torn ofF and enclosed in the molien matter, and it is not
therefore uncommon to find in Hingham instances of the enclo»»
ure of granite within the darker trap rock of the dike.

The name Trap has been generallj used to designate the dark-
green or black rock forming dikes ; but as it is now recognized
tiiat different rocks of like appearance constitute the invading msr
terial, it is necessary to be more definite in scientific description.
The dikes of Hingham as far as examined, with two or three ex-
ceptions only, are all of Diabase.

In narrow dikes the rock has a homogeneous structure, as' the
sudden cooling prevented a crystallization of its mineral constitu-
ents, but in ti^ose of any considerable width where the material
cooled more slowly, it is often porphyritic towards the central
portion, crystals especially of feldspar being disseminated. Upon
the invaded rock the action caused by the introduction of the
molten matter is generally more or less perceptible by a change
in its structure near the junction of the two rocks, and frequently
by the production of minerals along their margins. In Hing>
ham, Epidote is not uncommonly found as the result of this action.
Mention will now be made of some of the dikes which have come
under the observation of the writer.

Meeting-House Hill, Main Street, South Hingham. — There
is a dike in the granite of this elevation but a few steps north
from the church which may be seen on the surface of the rock
and traced sixty to seventy feet to the margin of the carriage
road. It is from five to six feet in width, and runs in a northwest
and southeast direction. Generations olf men have come to the
temple here to worship, wholly unconscious that their footsteps
were over a record of events that took place millions of years
before man breathed the breath of life.

Leavitt Street and Jones Street. — Between these two roads
on land of Mr. James Jones is a rocky hillock of granite about
equidistant from both, in which may be found three trap dikes
not far apart, one of which has the considerable width of ten
feet To readily find these, proceed from the bridge that crosses
Weir River 700 . feet in a southeasterly direction on Leavitt
Street, which will bring one to Mr. Alanson Crosby^s house on
the left side. By passing to the rear of the house about 300
feet from the road, the rocks will be reached with their en-
closed dikes. The most northerly of the three is about two and
a half feet in width, the second, eighteen feet from the first,
is ten feet wide and exposed for a distance of seventy-five feet.
These two show well on the face of the granite cliflf which en-
closes them. The third, forty feet from the last-mentioned, is
from three to four feet wide. This will not be readily perceived
without close examination, as it is only on a comparatively level
spot and obscured somewhat by surface soil. The direction of
these dikes is east and west Two hundred and fifty feet, more or

The Geology of Hitigham. 8S

less, east of these dike exposures occur considerable bodies of trap,
but the counection with them is not perceptible.

On Leavitt Stiect, about a mile and a half from Leavitt*B Bndge
going east, and less than a quarter of a mile before reaching the
town line, a trap dike crosses tlie road diagonally. It appears
first on the right side for a few feet, and the exi)osure on the left
is seTentj-five feet from where titc first is lost to view. In neither
place does it show above the surface more than a few feet, nor can
it be traced beyoud the two exposures. Its width is about six feet,
and it is porphyr-itic. Its direction is east and west.

Lasell STREEt, — Considerable elevations of granite skirt Lasell
Street on the left .side, some of which approach and border the higli-
waj. After passiiin Free Street 740 feet, one of these is reached,
which presents a bold front, having a very interesting dike of about
six feet in width. Lichens obscui'e this somewhat, on the face of
the rock as seen from the street, and one needs to climb to the
upper surface to study it to advantage. Here it is found extending
itself a considerable distance east, showing, away from it^ margins,
aporphyriticcharactcr,thc crystals of feldspar being quite distinct.
Fifty feet south of this is another dike, parallel with the first, but
having a width of only thirty-two inches. This docs not exhibit
crystals of feldspar so perceptibly, its cooling having been too
rapid for their favorable development. This dike cannot be seen
from the street, as the front face of the rock has retreated from
its border. The two dikes have both aii east and west direction
by compass, as have nearly all that are found in the granite not
approximate to the rocks of ttie sedimentary series.

LoNO BaiiKiE Lane. — At the pranitc qnurry of Mr. Israel
Whitcomb, about a quarter of a mile from Union Street, may be
seen two dikes east and west by compass, one alwut a foot wide,
the other twenty-lwo inches. Tlicy are not far from thirty feet
apart.

Friexd Stiieet. — On the riglit-hand side of this street, pro-
ceeding from Muin, and not far from the latter, may be seen two
dikes cutting Ihrunph the granite of the roadway, both Having a
general direction of east and west, and both of which may be
traced for considerable distances. Tlie first is found 330 feet
from Main Street, and varies from four to six feet in width. This -
may be observed in the adjoining field, 80 to 100 feet east from
the road, and has been traced west across meadow land in differ-
ent ledges, nearly 1,000 feet. The second one is about forty feet
beyond the first-mentioned, and has a width of about two feet. It
appears on both sides of the carriage way ia the bordering ledge
through which the street was cut, but is not so readily seen on the
left as on the right without close obserration. Tiiis has been
traced 120 feet or more.

Union Stbeet. — There is a dike on this street, S60 feet from
Lasell Street going east; which may be seen in a ridge of granite

ktelMi

ikM

History of Hingham.

which extends along the left side of the road for a distance off
about 120 feet. It varies in width from fifteen inches to nearly
two feet, and is much distorted. The general direction is, how-
ever, east and west It maj be traced nearly the whole length of
the ridge.

About 2,000 feet beyond this, going from Lasell Street, another
dike occurs which crosses the street diagonally. It may be seen
on both sides of the roadway in the granite, and may be traced
into the adjoining field on the left seventy-five feet or more from
tlie fence. Its width is about three and a half feet ; its direction
east and west. See Figure No. 1. The crosses (x x) represent
exposures of the granite.

'Mi

* git

XJCX

0/3f AiWHfUW

Oitte^aboufSJTfKmik^
Tfsceab/e about iOOftef^

FiGURX No. 1.

Old Colony Hill. — Proceeding from the harbor on Summer
Street towards and up the 8loi)e of Old Colony Hill, there may be
seen on the right side just above the surface a small exposure of
trap, being part of a dike which passing east is lost to sight by
the covering earth, but which again ap|)ear8 just in front of Mr.
Bouv^'s stone wall, near the corner of Rockland Street. Here it
presents a flat face upon which may be observed numerous glacial
striae. Tlie distance on the street is .about 250 feet. From here
the dike is lost to view for 130 feet, but may be found in an east-
southeast direction upon the adjoining field, where it continues
above ground 85 feet. It then a<rain sinks below the surface, but
reappears 190 feet further on in the same direction, and there
shows an exposure of about 100 feet before finall}' disappearing.
The whole length as thus presented is 815 feet. The width of
the trap as it appears above the soil varies from five to twelve
feet

Hull Street. — Two trap dikes, one three feet wide, the other
over four feet, were observed on this street Their direction was
found to be east and west, but irregular.

lU Otology Hf Hingkam. 8S

Wqb RiTEK.— Id the gnnite rocks cf flw mat dd«af Wdr

Biver, north of BockUnd areet, may ba Men Mrenl dikei. Ods
may be found a few bimdred feet bdow the Blverride Boom, ex-
tending from the river baak in an eait«outheatt direetioii, baTiiiK
a width of six feet. There are two othera not far dlitant having
the same general direction, each about two feet vide. Stifi
another was noticed of lesa width than either mentioned, luring
pieces of granite, through which it had cut, endoeed. ^

Beach keab Suhkkb Sibeet. — On the beach east of Heney**
wharf, near tlie steamboat landing and about ninety yards from iL
may be seen a trap dike running east and west, hanng a width of
nine feet This dike has veins of ejndote. '

About twenty-ei(^t yards beyond this there is anottwr east and
west dike of the same chsraoter, which is somewhat irregtilBr and
intermixed with granite, but showing, where distinet, a width <€
two feet.

Fifty j-ards farther a dike b reached which crosses the headi
in the granite, and which is particularly interesting, becanss it
shows within its, body a contmnous mass of granite which was
torn from the walla of that rock and enclosed in the ieneons mii-
terial, when this was irrupted fnmi braeath in a mtuten oondi-
tion. See Figure No. S..

One hundred and twenty-five feet farther east a small cove,
called Mansfield's Cove, is reached, where may be seen just at its

86 Hisiarjf of Hingham.

entrance a dike six feet in width, of porphjritic texture and par>
tially decomposed, its direction being, like the others, east and
west.

The core is about ninety feet deep, and is bordered on its south-
erlj side by granite, having here and there more or less mixture
of trap. Some Melaphyr is also seen in juxtaposition with the
granite, and this rock also appears on the adjoining land near,
but to a limited extent.

Martin's Lane. — On the right of Martin's Lane and just
beyond its termination, a dike may be observed within granite
walls, having an east and west direction and traceable 100 feet.
Its width is about six feet

JOINTa

Joint structure properly finds place here, as all the rocks of the
town exhibit it, and none more than the granites.

Probably there can be found no reader of these pages resident
in Hingham who has not obsen'cd lines of fracture both in the
granitic and the sedimentary rocks of the town, as his eyes have
rested upon its numerous ledges. To explain these it will be well
to give some account of different kinds of joints that occur in
rocks, as they vary in character, have an entirely different origin,
and give rise to varied structure.

The first to occupy attention, then, are such as arise fi*om the
contraction by cooling, as in the case of igneous rocks, or by desic-
cation, as in the case of sedimentary strata. This contraction
results in cracks never parallel or intersecting, and are generally
short and not continuous. In some igneous rocks the contraction
tends to the formation of polygonal columns, which the joints then
surround and embrace. The best exemplification of this structure
is seen in the Basalt of the Giants' Causeway in Ireland, where
this structure presents the whole rock mass in beautiful prismatic
columns, each column separated into blocks having concave and
convex surfaces.. Tlicy vary in dimension and are somewhat
irregular, but have been regarded by some as resulting from im-
perfect crystallization. Tliere is, however, nothing of crystalliza-
tion in their formation, this being without doubt entirely due to
contractive action. Professor Crosby has mentioned a case where
the columnar structure was observed by him in the felsite of
Nccdham, but no instances of the kind have been noticed in the
rocks of Hingham.

The joints next to be mentioned are such as have now re-
ceived the name of Joints of Expansion. Almost all rocky
masses have, in addition to those of other character, joints, or
seams as they are often called, that are approximately horizontal,
or nearly parallel with the surface of the ground. They may be
observed in any quarry. They divide the rock into layers, and

The Geology qf Hingham. 87

thus enable the workmen to get out blocks much more easily than
would be otherwise possible. The origin of tliis kind of jointing,
as first suggested b)* Professor Shaler, is now generally admitt^
by geologists to be due to the effect of the sun^s rays upon the
surface, leading to a permeation of more or less heat to a con-
siderable depth, with consequent expansion, and finally to a sepsr
ration of the rock into layers.

The last kind of joints to which attention is called, and the
origin of which has been by far the most difficult to explain, are
those which are most readily observed upon all the exposed rocks
of this town. They may be seen in parallel lines upon their sur-
faces, sometimes extending for considerable distances, and often
intersected by other lines which are also parallel with each other.
These joints are ajiproximately vertical and vary much in direc-
tion, which, in view of their probable origin, is an important
matter of consideration.

Examination of the direction in many localities shows as
follows : —

IS^orth and south.

North by west and south by east.

North -Dorth west and south-southeast.

Northwest and southeast

North-northeast and south-southwest.

Northeast and southwest.

East and west.

East- northeast and west^outbwest.

East-southeast and west-northwest.

Others are found varying in direction from all these, but they
arc not so noticeable.

One of the best localities to observe this joint structure on an
extensive scale, although not in this town, will be mentioned here,
because it is within a short distance from its boundary and easily
o])scrved. It is on Beach Street in Cohasset, very near Sandy
Cove, where a large area of rock surface extends from the road-
side west on an upward slope, covering a space of several hundred
feet. The joints on this surface are particularly well-defined.

The parallel lines under consideration may be observed on
almost every exposure of rock, sometimes several feet apart but
in other cases only a few inches. At one granite locality on
Whiting Street they occur so near each other in some instances
as to enable one to pry off pieces not over half an inch thick,
specimens of which may be seen in the collection of the Public
Library, made to illustrate the geology of the town.

It has always been a source of great astonishment alike to
students and casual observers, to find that in the severance of the
conglomerate rocks the parts are often found divided as smoothly
as if a knife had cut them asunder, and that the very pebbles
contained in it are divided with the rest of the mass, instead of

88 Hisiarjf of Hingham.

being left iutact upon one of the Hides of the joints as would have
been judged likely, whatever the force that rent the rock apart

When two series of tlie joints under consideration are observa-
ble upon any rock surface, those of one series running in a cer-
tain direction will be found often to be intersected by those of the
other, the result being to separate the rock more or less vertically
in rectangular or rhomboidal divisions, and when, as is often the
case in slates, there are also joints of expansion, cleavage planes,
or planes of stratification, which are more or less transverse to the
two mentioned, the rock will break into rectangular or rhomboidal
blocks.

Such may be obtained at Huit's Cove or more readily at Slate
Island just outside the town limits. Fine sjiecimens may be seen
in the town collection of rocks from the former locality.

It remains now to state the probable origin of the vertical in*
tersecting joints. Much study has been given to the subject by
several geologists. To Professor W. 0. Crosby is certainly due
the credit of suggesting and ably advocating a theory that seems
to the writer after much consideration, conclusive. The theory
is that earthquake action caused the phenomena. Space'will not
here allow further remarks, but the reader who wislies to learn
more of it, is referred to the Proceedings of the Boston Society of
Natural History, vols. xxii. and xxiiL

THE BOSTON BASIN.

The border line of the granitic and dioritic rocks of the town,
whether near or far from the coast and however irregular its
course, may be regarded approximately as part of the border of a
great area which is known by geologists as the Boston Basin, and
which embraces a portion of the towns of Cohasset, Hull, Hing-
ham, Weymouth, Quincy, Milton, Hyde Park, Necdham, Newton,
Brooklinc, Somerville, Cambridge, Watcrtown, Maiden, Medford,
Everett, and the city of Boston, with its harbor east to the outer
islands, and possibly a considerable distance beyond, the diameter
east-west being not far from twenty-five miles, and having a north-
south diameter averaging about twelve miles.

It is absolutely necessary to know much of the history of the
formations of the Boston Basin in order to appreciate what may
be said of that portion embraced within the limits of Hingham.
There has been much discussion carried on over a long period
respecting the age and the sequence of its formations. Recent
investigations in all parts of it by Professor Crosby have thrown
much light upon the subject, changing materially his own views
and those of others, who have been informed of his important
observations.

One result of his work has been to establish the fact, that in-
stead of there being but one formation of slate, as advocated by
himself, there is shown clearly to be two, as claimed by other ob-

Tk$ Ckolon Iff Hirngkam, S9

servers ; and another is to demonstrate that instead off the aeffi^
mentary rocks of the basin being of one period, the Primordial^
a large portion of them are the £podts off a later an.

Before going further the reader should reoogmse that in a reiy
early period, probably in ArcbsBan Time, tliere eame to exist oier
the area of what is now known as the Boston Basin, a great d^
pression of the whole surface, probaUr largdy doe to snbterrap
nean igneous action, aided perhaps by long continued erosion hf
the sea. The certainty that in subsequent agea, tfarou|^ perfaapa
millions of years, the whole area became as it were a ^eat crater,
with violent volcanic action at many perioda and in many parts
g[ it, during which vast flows off lava were poured into it, fortii-
ing a considerable portion of its rocks, makes it probaUe that .
subterranean action was the chief cause.

Appreciating highly the value off the recent investigalSoiis of
Professor Crosby referred to above, and agreeing with him* gen-
erally in his conclusions, the writer believes that he can de no
better than to follow him in presenting/a summary of the prii^
cipal events in the history ol the formations within the bsyria
before giving a detailed statement of the sedimentary and asso-
ciated rocks of Hingham.

The formation recognised as the oldest in the hann is that of
the primordial slates and accompanying Quartsite, known to he
of primordial age by the discoveiy in the slates off Trilobites of
that age. These slates occur at Bruntree, where oidy such foa*
ails have been found, at Weymouth near by, and in numerooa
places in the northern portion of the basin. As stated by Pro*
lessor Crosby, they probablv underlie a large part of the badn
covered by the rocks of a later am.

Subsequent to the deposition of ue primordial strata a period
of violent volcanic action followed, during which were torn asnn*
der the slates and the quartzite, and vast floods of banc lava, now
known as Diorite, were pour^ in amiong them and over their
surfaces. Following this, there appears to have come a long
period of repose and erosion, which was terminated 4>y another
of prolonged violent igneous action, bringing to the surface and
spreading over it the acid lavas which formed the granite and
toe pctrosilex. As the diorite is found intrusive in the primor*
dial strata, and the granite and petrosilex are alike intrusive
in the diorite and the primordial strata, it is clear that the latter
are the oldest of these, and that the granite and petrosilex are
the most recent. If the granites and allied rocks of eastern
Massachusetts are, as has been taught by Dr. T. Sterry Himt
and other geologists, Archaean, it may possibly be that these un-
derlying the primordial and subjected to intense . igneous action,
became locally fluent, and thus were injected into and over the
superincumbent strata. While, therefore, all thus injected and
reiormed above the primordial may be refrarded as more recent,
it may not be true of those outside the basin. There is much*

1%$ Ckolon qf JB ff ti jiw L €1

decayed material renuuns npcm fhem, ahawingi tiioagli tat pu^
tially, the extent of the corrosioii, mudi of the sobitiuioe haTiqf
been washed off the surface by the denuding aetioii oC ndni^

There is certainly no reason to suppose the general eondifioBi
of the surface of the land prior to the glacial period was different
over the area of the early formations ol New Engluid from what
prevailed over formations of a like age south of facial aetioB.

SVe may therefore picture to ourselves, wifli good reason, fbm
country everywhere in the neigfaborfaood of Boston oorered with
hills of considerable altitude, composed of the decayed material
of tlie rocky formations, and having disseminated throa|^ it
bowlders and pebbles of CTery size, tlutt had not yet yidded' t9
the dccom|K)sing influence. It is well known that oorroshv
action tends to produce such forms, thon^- of course it is not
questioned but that subsequent action of w^er wcbA attrition had
much influence in working a large portion of the pebbles found
in the conglomerate into tlie sliapcs which they now presenL

The subsidence of the area of the baun after tlie primordisl
period mentionedf extending the water surface to the base of hiDs
filled with the material for the conglomerate, the igneous aetioa
that followed and was active at times during the forma;&Ni of
that rock, causing more or less of oscillation and change of level
to the surface, and the subsequent action of the waves upon the
cliffs and beaches of coast margin, together, will amply aooonnt
for the production of the conglomerate, but it will be recognised
that the main factor in such view is to be found in the dirint^n^
tion of the rocky hills long before the action of other forces.

The presentation now made of the origin of the conglomerate
of the Boston Basin is greatly strengthened by the met latdiy
called to the notice of the writer by Professor Cirosby, — fliat no
pebbles of the basic rock diorite are found in the conj^omerate
with those of the acidic rocks. All will agree in the statement
that pebbles of tlie granite, the quartzite, and the petrosilez
rocks of the northern border of the basin, have contributed
largely to make up the conglomerate ; but what became of those
of the diorite, a rock quite as abundant in the ancient hills as
any of them? Its absence can only be accounted for by the
view that it could not like the others withstand the corrosiw
action, as did partially the others, and therefore not even pebbles
were left to help form the newer rock. Bespecting the slates,
their origin is clear. Simultaneously with the depression of the
area of the basin below the sea level, there would commence a
deposit of the finer sediment brought down by the rivers. This
may well be thought to have been copious considering the char^
acter of the country passed through, everj'where composed of
the decayed remains of the earlier rocks. Indeed it cannot be
doubted that the streams would be turbid with armllaceous mat*
ter, and, as well known, this would be immediatdy precipitated
upon coming in contact with salt water. Thus the material for

42 History of Hingham.

the slates of the basin must have steadily accumulated througli
long ages.

The origin of another abundant rock of the basin, associated
with tlie conglomerate, the melaphyr, long continued to be a ques-
tion of much discussion, but there is now no doubt concerning it.
During all the immense time that subsidence continued, and
while sedimentary strata were gradually accumulating, the area
of the basin remained a great centre of ig^neous action, and vol-
canoes here and there within it belched forth from time to time
floods of lava which spread itself over the surface. Professor
Crosby has made out in the Xantasket region several flows of it,
each of which alternates with deposits of conglomerate and sand-
stone. In such cases the outpouring was probably beneath the
surface of tlie water, where the deposits followed each period
of activity. In Hingham the melaphyr is found in very great
bodies not separated by deposits of the sedimentary rocks.

One more great event in the history of the basin is yet to be
mentioned. Long after the volcanic action that had produced the
basic lava, melaphyr, had ceased, and after all the seaiments were
deposited that produced the rocks known to us as the conglomer-
ates, the sandstones, and the slates, a great disturbance occurred
over the whole area of the basin and of the crystalline rocks
surrounding it, caused by another manifestation of igneous enr
ergy, which changed the whole character of the surface. With-
in the basin, apparently from immense pressure exerted in north
and south directions, the rocky strata were forced up in folds or
in broken ridges. Tlirough crystalline rocks and sedimentary
strata alike, subterranean action brought to the surface, and
probably poured over it, vast quantities of lava of highly basic

Eroperties, dififerent from those of the previous eruptions, now
uown to lithologists as Diabase, an account of which has been
given. The great erosion of after ages is undoubtedly the rea-
son why the rock Diabase is not found spread over the surface,
as well as within the walls of dikes.

At length the disturbing action ceased, and the earth, which
had been shaken from its foundations to its surface, and rent
asunder in a thousand localities, once more became quiescent.
The effect upon the area of the basin was great, for where the
waters had for an immense period spread themselves over the
surface, and under which conglomerates and slates had been laid
down, dri/ land appeared.

How strange to reflect that in these three words is embraced
a fact without which all the stupendous events that have been
mentioned, occurring over millions of years, would have re-
mained entirely unknown to mortal man ; for with the waters
covering the basin, where could a trace of its long history have
been found?

The rocks of the Boston Basin as they present themselves in
Hingham will now be noticed. Unfortunately the non-occurrence

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3
I

iiiifedtfittaii

44 History qf Hingham.

dance over the hillj region between South and Elm streets, appear-
ing near the former in cliffs of considerable altitude, and it forms,
with the amjgdaloidal mclaphyr, a part of the shore rocks of
Rocky Neck that border Weir River, east of Planter's HilL It
also occurs abundantly about and over the high lands contiguous
to Huit^s Cove.

Away from the coast and the islands in the harbor the most
imposing exhibition of this rock may be found in a narrow, pri-
vate road that runs from Beal Street towards Weymouth River,
some distance north of the Hockley Lane. Soon after entering
this road it turns towards the north, winding about the base of
some exposures of the conglomerate which lie between it and
Beal Street Following the passage through low ground and
through forest growth for the distance of about a quarter of a
mile, there suddenly appear high cliffs of the rock partially ob-
scured by trees, rising to the height of forty to fifty feet, and pre-
senting the appearance of having been torn asunder by some
convulsion of nature, large masses being found in the foreground. .
The rocks extend along the road and near it six to seven hundred
feet The exposure here is well worth visiting.

The conglomerate rocks of Hingham were originally deposited
upon the more ancient rocks, perhaps much farther inland than
is now apparent, and were worn away by the erosion of the sur-
face in after ages. At some localities, however, a partial coating
of the conglomerate may be seen upon tlie granite, occupying
depressions in it, showing where it once rested probably in con-
siderable beds.

CLAY SLATE, OR ARGILLITE, OF THE CONGLOM-
ERATE SERIES.

The slate of the conglomerate series in Hingham occurs, as
may be seen by the maps, quite abundantly in the northern ]>arts
of the town, alternating with the conglomerate. The color of
these slates varies considerably, a portion being of the ordinary
bluish shade, while other portions are red or reddish. Both
these colors are found quite near each other in the same exposure,
as in Hersey Street on tlie left side going from, and not far from.
South Street

The slate of the slate series will be mentioned after notice of
melaphyr, which is included in the conglomerate series.

MELAPHYR.

Tlie name Amygdaloid commonly applied to this rock was given
because of the frequent occurrence in it of cavities filled with other
minerals than those constituting its mass, which are often approxi-

46 History of Hingham.

much at the several localities. In attempting to obtain this, it
may be well to admonish the reader, if not a geologist, that in the
case of slates and some other rocks, the true lines of deposition
by no means correspond with the lines of cleavage. It is owing
to the planes of the latter that the rock is serviceable for the
uses to which it is put in the arts, as a roofing material, and
for other purposes. This kind of cleavage is called Slatt
Cle-vvaue, and it is unquestionably due to great lateral pressure
of the material of which slates are composed, after its deposition.
The fact of such pressure being exerted upon the strata beneath
the surface is well-known, and experiments by Sedgwick, Tyndall,
and Daubree, upon clay and other substances, demonstrate that
the effect of pressure was to produce lamination.

The writer has thought it well, before closing his remarks upon
the rock exposures of the town, to suggest two excursions that
may be made to advantage by students interested in them. One
of ttiese is through the northern portion of Hersey Street, from
South Street to Elm Street. The rocks mentioned rest immedi-
ately on or quite near the margin of the road, and may be seen
without going any distance from it in the adjoining fields. Since
the examination has been made there has been some change on
the east side of the street by the erection of a building, and the
covering over of a portion of the rocks near ; but thus far none
that will lessen interest in ins|>ecting those yet undisturbed. The
other excursion suggested is that of a visit to Rocky Neck and a
walk along its shores, as promising more pleasure and instruction
than can be found in any other locality.

Herset Street.

This street, in its northern part, affords a good opportunity to
observe a succession of the sedimentary rocks of Hingham with
the intrusive trap which is found with them. In ascending the
rising ground from South Street, there occurs, on the right side,
about 240 feet from the commencement of tlie road and back from
it, an exposure of Conglomerate. It shows itself quite near the
house of Mr. Allen A. Lincoln. Its face is parallel with the side
of the house and at riglit angles with tlie road. On the next
estate, 60 feet beyond, there is rock exposure near and facing the
street, the first part of which is composed of trap and constitutes
a dike six or more feet in width. This is succeeded by conglom-
erate, with which it makes a close junction. This conglomerate
extends about 15 feet and is followed by a reddish slate extend-
ing 20 feet, in the centre of which is a second trap dike. Suc-
ceeding tiie slate is more conglomerate, which shows itself 50
feet or more. There is no further exposure on the right side of
the road for 1090 feet, and then it is found that the limit of the

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I%€ Oeolon 9f Himgktmu • 47

sedimentaiy rocks htt been puied, as grmnite now appeal*. TMs
extends 30 feet and is followed by an ezposnre of tnm. Bqrond
this trap, which here crosses the street, the rodu are all granite.

On the left side of the street, ascending the hfll fnnn Booth
Street and about 810 feet from it, there is an exposure of rocks
which present ttiemselves in the following order: eon^^omerate
nine feet, slate six feet, sandstone twenty feet, slate again twdvB
feet, this last being succeeded by a dike of trap aboot nine feet in
width. Beyond tins trap there is no ezposore for aboot 60 feet,
at which distance another ledge appears, the first part of wbidi
shows blue and red slate six feet, me rest of it being eonriom-
erate, which extends 86 feet Another space, of 72 feet, wnhonfc
rock follows the conglomerate, when this rock reappears in
another ledge, — composing the first part of it for six feet, the
rest of it, 45 feet, being blue and red slate. Still another qiaoe
of about 80 feet occurs without rock, when sandstone appears
along the road for the very considerable distance of 110 feet.
Trap, partially covered with soil, succeeds tlie sandsUme for abmifc
40 feet, then conglomerate with an exposure of six feet Bqrcnd
this conglomerate, which is the last seen on the road of tiie sedi*
mentary strata, no other rocks appear on the left side of it for 660
feet Then appears a considerable deration of trap rock, which
extends along the street about 80 feet and back upon the adjoin*
ing fields towards Elm Street As stated above, when mention-
ing the portion of this dike exposed on the right side of the road^
there are no other rockis beyond it excepting granite.

BocKT Neck.

East of Plantcr^s Hill, and partially separated from it by a
depression of the surface, is an elevation of land forming* a prom*
ontor\\ which is bordered by Weir River on its north and east-
erly sliores. The rocks here, finely exposed as they are along tibe
water's edge, and exhibiting well their relation to each other,
afford one of the localities the best worth visiting of any within
the town. The map of course shows the development over and
beneath the surface of the land as made known by the rock expos-
ures ; but a statement of what may be readily observed in a walk
along the margin of the water will perhaps help visitors to
understand what they pass, and thus make such a trip thd more
interesting.

At low water on the river front of the meadow that lies south
of Rocky Neck, may be seen close to the water^s edge a small
ridge of rocks which the student should especially notice, as they
are composed of the basic rock Porphyrite, and no other exposure
of this rock is known in Hingham. Following the shore north of
the porphyrite and just where the land rises from low and marshy
ground, the first rocks which appear above the surface and rest

48 History qf Hingham.

ing Bomewhat back from the beach are conglomerates. Proceed-
ing further a short distance, two dikes of diabase jut upon the
beach, and not far inland may be seen to have cut through con-
glomerate, the line of junction on a facing of one of them towards
the water being distinctly perceptible The first of the dikes is
about 450 feet from the porphyrite on the line of the beach, and
the second about 40 feet further. The former of these will be
more particularly mentioned before the close of these remarks %
upon Rocky Neck. Beyond the dikes, extending over the beach
and along the shore for 350 icct or more, is a coi^used mixture of
melaphyr with other rocks, petrosilex, porphyrite, granite, quarts-
ite, etc In portions the melaphyr forms with them a conglom-
erate of which it is by far the larger part Other portions can
hardly be designated as conglomerate, being apparently the result
of the intrusion of the melaphyr in a molten state among pebbles
and masses unconsolidated, and absorbing them in its substance^
each being now found surrounded entirely by the melaphyr.

It is in this portion of the rock of the shore that there is found
much good red jasper, afifording cabinet specimens of some beauty.
The formation of this was clearly due to the 'chemical action
arising from the union of the molten melaphyr with the material
invaded. There are some veins of quartz found in the rock and
others of an impure, buff-colored epidote.

Following this mixed melaphyr and conglomerate and less than
100 feet from it, is a very typical conglomerate containing peb-
bles of granite, quartzite, and petrosilex. This extends about 90
feet. The jointing in this may be noticed as north and south.

About 80 feet from the conglomerate, melaphyr appears and
extends for the considerable distance of about 500 feet. In it
may b6 seen veins of quartz and also of the yellowish, opaque
epidote mentioned above as occurring in the mixed melnphyr
and conglomerate, but in far greater abundance. This melaphyr
at its termination abuts directly against conglomerate, the line -
of demarcation being distinct and nearly vertical, though in places
this does not clearly appear. There is undoubtedly a fault here.
The conglomerate from the junction of the two rocks extends
along the coast line about 240 feet. In this conglomerate is an '
east and west dike four to live feet wide. Melaphyr follows for
some 50 feet or more, of a character similar to that before de-
scribed as mixed with other material.

A bay in the land here occurs, and crossing it westerly on the
beach at low tide the visitor finds clifTs of melaphyr which form a
jutting point into the water. Crossing this a second bay is
reached at a distance of about 1 00 feet. Here the rock displays
the characteristic nodules that lead to its designation as amyg-
daloid. Indeed a large portion of the melaphyr of Rocky Neck is
finely amygdaloidal, and affords good specimens of this variety of
the rock. On the beach here there is a protruding flat surface
of rock, a yard or so in diameter, on which may be seen glacial

stris, though probably expoied tlHra to Uw elcmenta ibr eentik.
lies. These lines are northwsst and aoaOieut, ud MaA SO*
east Other lines on a neighboring roek an noiHiwest bf Test
and southeast b; east. On the westerly dde cf the bay granite
appears in a lilgh clifF towards and extending Into the wi^.

B; ascending this cliff* passing over it to its western dedinfy
and desccadiog to the narrow beadi at ita base, whleh sboold be
done at low tide, a dike exposure may be seen of mnch interest
It is what is called a double dike, the nultan material baring
made its way to the iurfsoe within two eoutignons jolnta in Hw
granite. The larger portion baa a width of aboot ei|^ fee^ Hw

^^%^

FiauKi No. 8.

smaller one about one foot, and they are separated by about one foot
of the invaded rock. See Figure No. 8. This double dike slopes
to the south from the vertical at an angle of 45". This is the
extreme western end, on Rocky Neck, of the dike first mentioned
as appearing on the eastern shore. It does not present there

▼OL.L— 4

mmtA^m^iUtmmm^^Mammtkik^ii^^^

60 Hisiorjf of

or generally over the surface of the neck its double character be-
cause pbscured by the soil. Across the water of the river, on
Nantaskct where it reappears, it shows itself double.

. THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

A pretty full notice of the great glacier that rested over the
North, and the, phenomena attendant upon its advance and
final melting away, has been given in the preliminary remarks.
We have now only to treat particularly of the traces left upon
the surface of the town by its passage. Those who -have atten-
tively read what has been expressed will understand that the
decomposed material of early rock formations making up the
soil of tlie territory of Hingham prior to the advent of the ice
was largely borne away by its movement, the solid rock founda-
tions being laid bare, whilst a large part of that which now forms
the hills and covers the valleys was brought forward by the on-
ward progress of the glacier from more northern localities. The
whole of the earth thus disturbed and redistributed is known, as
Drift. Much of it was materially changed in the transportation.
That directly beneath the glacier, and subjected to its enormous
pressure and to great friction upon the rock surfaces below, was
•reduced te fragments, and even to the finest particles. The masses
of rock, too, which were borne on beneath the glacier, that escaped
destruction, were mostly smoothed, and often striated, like the
rocky strata over which they passed. The part of the drift thus
subjected te the crushing and grinding action of the glacier is
known as Till. The definition of this terra " Till," as given by
James Geikie, the author of the exceedingly valuable work,
" The Great Ice Period," is " a firm, tough, unstratified steny
clay, with no very large bowlders, and having stones of a peculiar
shape.'' The stones referred to are such as are oblong without
being symmetrical in outline, and which exhibit striae most often
in the direction of the longest axis. Till constitutes the lowest
member of the drift deposits. It is the " moraine profonde,''* or
" ground moraine " of foreign geologists, the " bowlder clay " of
most writers, the "hard pan" of our townsmen. It owes its
compact and tough character undoubtedly to the immense pres-
sure of the ice.

A considerable portion of the drift which was borne in the body
of the glacial sheet itself, and thus esca[>ed its grinding action,
upon the final melting of the ice was spread loosely over the
whole surface to a varying depth of from one to ten feet, and in
some places to a much greater thickness. It is generally com-
posed of gravel and sand with enclosed pebbles, and often contains
an abundance of bowlders of large dimensions. Like the till, this
upper drift is unstratified ; but neither the bowlders nor pebbles
in it are striated, as is the case with part of those of the former.

AiilifMldMdMMyiMlAMHiarilMMMIiMHii^^

52 HUtoTjf of Hi

feet These hills rest on rock surfaces which have been subjected
to glacial action and show striation*

Now when the fact is taken into consideration that all such
hills are only to be found in countries which have been covered
with the ice-sheet, that their longitudinal axes always coincide^
or very nearly coincide, with the direction of the strias upon the
rocks of the regions where they occur, and that they are com-
posed almost entirely of till, no one can reasonably doubt th^t
tliey were originally formed under and by the action of the ico-
sheet itself, now the till could be raised into such hills has been
a subject of much question, but there is now a general acquies
cence in the view that they had their origin in the gradual and
long-continued accumulation of the clay and its accompanying
pebbles in certain places favorable for the aggregation of the ma-
terial, in the same manner that sand-banks are formed in rivers.

GROOVINGS AND STRIATION OF THE ROCKS.

The rock exposures in different parts of the town show clearly
the wearing away of the material, causing extensive grooves upon
their surfaces, and often fine striae, which mark unmistakably the
courae of the glacier over them. The granite, while it exhibits
the smooth, rounded outlines and the deep groovings on a grand
scale, seldom shows the finer and more delicate markings as seen
upon the slate and diabase. Among the localities where the striae
may be clearly discerned are the following : —

Fort Hill. — The diorite on the side of the street next the
cemetery very generally exhibits striae. An examination of these
shows their direction to be as follows, — compass measurement
(which measurement will be given in all cases) : —

East of south 10»
East of south 12<'
East of south 15^

Lasell Street. — On the left side of this street, going souths
about 1000 feet from Free street, and cxtendin<]r from the carriage-
way to the fence, is the flat surface of a dike of diabase, upon
which are very numerous striae. Several of tliese examined were
found to run east of south 10**.

Beal's Cove, Weymouth Back River. — There is here a consid-
erable exposure of slate, throujrh which is a large dike of diabase.
On both rocks striae are abundant. Examination showed them to
vary in direction as follows : —

East of south IQP,^

East of south 15% >on slate.

East of south 20*", )

East of south 25% on dike rock.

\GE AND ^

^ ate Series.

It,

Ha
Jh

7%« Oeology of HinghauL, 58

RocKT Neck. — On a beach of the northern shore, upon diabase^
are glacial striae showing a direction southeast, and also east of
south 30^

Union Street. — On the left side of Union street, 1670 feet
from LascU, and just beyond Long Bridge Lane, is a granite ledge
upon which are numerous strias.

Summer and Rockland streets. — Just at the comer of tliese
streets, by the roadside, is an exposure of diabase trap, before men*
tioned when treating of dikes, upon which are striae which show
variation in direction as follows : —

East of south 10^
East of south 12^
East of south 15^

Weir Street. — On the right side of the roadway of this street,
a short distance from the railroad-crossing, is an exposure of dio-
rite showing striae running —

East of south 5^
East of south lO''

INDIAN POT-HOLES, OE GL^J^TS' KETTLES OP

FOREIGN WRITERS.

It is well known that wherever there exist waterfalls of any mag-
nitude, pot-holes, so-called, are often found beneath the rushinff
waters, formed by the friction of stones which have been lodgea
in the hollows of the rock surface over which the torrent pours,
and which, having a somewhat circular motion imparted to them,
gradually wear away the rock, with the result of producing these
singular objects.

It is not surprising that when these have been found, as has often
been the case, where there was nothing to indicate there had ever
been a river or running stream, they should have excited alike the
wonder and interest of both scientific and unscientific beholders.

It should be borne in mind that the knowledge of a great conti-
nental ice-sheet resting over our whole northern region is but a re-
cent acquisition, and that phenomena having thtrir origin under such
a condition of thinjrs could not possibly be understood previously
by the most learned of observers.

The ideas of the unlearned respecting such pot-holes are often
ludicrous. With our own people they have been regarded as the
work of the Indians, and where found have been called Indian Pot-
Holes, from the thought that they had been wrought for and used
as cookincr vessels. Abroad they have been called GHants* Kettles,
undoubtedly from the belief that they were made by giants for
their culinary use.

The study of glacial phenomena within a f^w years has thrown
a flood of light upon much that was before obscure, and we now

Sittorf (ff Hinghawi.

eu veQ nndentand how pot-holes ma; hare been formed In lo>

1 remote from any water-coarses of the present period bj
nubiDg torrents tbrou)^ crevasses in the great ice-sheet

The pot-holes to be mentioned, though not found within the limits
<A Hingham, are too near ite borders, and too iutercsting as phe-
nomena of the glacial period, not to be noticed here. They are
to be found in Little Harbor, Coh&sset, on Cooper's Island, bo-
ealled, which however is not an island in tlie sense of being a body
of land surrounded with water, but from its being a somewhat
elevated land surrouiidcd partly by water and partly by low, marshy
ground. There is a border of rocky cliffs on the northern portion
of the east coast of this island which end at a beach tliat separates
them from other cliffs farther south ; and it is near the termi-
nation of those first-mentioned and quite close to the beach that
the pot-holes are found. Just before this termination there is &
partial separation of the rocky mass by an opening on the water
side, which, however, rapidly narrows inland but a few feet from
the water. It is on the northern side of this opening, that is, on
the rock that slopes towards the south, and very near the water
at low tide, that two of the holes, or what remains of them, may be
readily seen when the tide is out

Of the lowest of these, and the best preserved of them, and whtcfa
is designated as No. 1 in Figure No. 4, there ret remains a pot-
hole in the rock which will
jJt ^ ■at:!^"-.-3 ^^"-."-'^ ^**^'^ water to the depth of 1
^~^<;,_^.^^'' \ 1 foot 9 inches, having a well-
^"^^C^i^^. defined rim just at the sur-
face of the water. The di-
ameter of it at rim is 251
inches ; below the rim 80
inches. Above this rim the
whole southern side of what
once formed a portion of the
pot-hole is gone ; but on the
nortlieiii side there rcmaius,
as a concavity in the rock,
what formed a part of it,
having well-worn marks up-
on the surface; and these
are plainly diisccrnible for a
height of four feet. From
the rock sloping away rapid-
ly above, it is very probabld
that oven these traces, whch
prove a depth of six feet, do
not give the whole of tliat of *
the original vessel when it
was intact. Exterior to this pot-hole the tide sinks below the
level of its bottom, but at high tide all is covered.

PianRS No 4

The second pot4iole hM ito bottom three bet abofo that of the
lowest one, and a peqiendiealar line from the centre of each ahows
the two to be three feet apart The wall dividuig them mnat hare
become, while yet action went on within them, rerj thin, and prob-
ably one broke into the other before it ceased altogether. The
whole southern aide of this second hole, which ia manted No. 2 in
Figure No. 4, is gone, and water can now stand in ita bottom to
the depth of only about two inchea.

The concarity above this, which formed the norfliem portion of
the hole, exhibiting as it does a well*wom surface d thrae feet in
width, shows that it must have been as large aa or larger than the
first This concavity can be discerned to the hd|^t of five feek|
where further traces are lost ; but, aa ia die case with No. 1, die
whole depth of the pot-hole may hare been much greater diaa
what is indicated. The alme of what remaina of the walla of
these holes shows that the flow of water over the rock sur&eea
was from the northwest That of No. 2 approximatea to 80* from
that direction towards the southeast

Of No. 8, 80 designated in i^gure Na 4, there ia but litde to be
said except that it is small and ahallow. It is 4 feet 9 indies
above No. 2 in a northwest direction, and there may be traced
from it westerly a narrow'water channel about aix feet in length.

The fourth of the potholes to be mendoned is or was die
largest of all, and hence has been called by the people near by
the '^ Well.*^ It is designated as No. 4 in Fig|ure Ho. i. Pasnnc
over the rocky elevation in a northerly direction, it may be found
about a hundred feet distant from the othera, in front of a cliff
which faces an opening in the rocka more immediatcdy near the
water. This pot-hole, unlike those previously mentioned, ia not
found on a sloping portion of rock, but is on a flat surface direedy
at the base of the cliff. Horisontally, the form of it ia oval, and
its largest diameter, which is northeast and southwest in JUreo*
tion, is four feet, tiie narrowest two feet ten inches. The depdi
at which water is now retained is about a foot

The cliff rises nine feet high from the margin of the ^Well^
and ten feet from its bottom. The ^ Well ^ itself was probaUv as
deep at least as ten feet, the curvature and wearing ot the rock of
the cliff above the present hole clearly showing this.

The rocky ridge m which all these pot-holes or ketties are found,
has a height of from 20 to 25 feet, and is of granite. Besides
the pot-holes of which an account has been given, there are other
depressions showing distinctly a commencement of action towards
their formation. Two of such may be found 20 feet in a north-
erly direction from those numbered 1, 2, and 8; that is, between
these and the one called the ^^Well,'' Na 4. One is shallow,
appearing like the bowl of a spoon, about a foot across, show-
ing, extending from it, a water-worn channel sloping easterly to
the edse of the rock surface, about ten feet ; and on a lower sur»
face of the same rock, another and larger depression just where

£6 Hiatory vf BinjfiiaM,

water from the first might descend. Moreover, a large portion of
the rock surface shows not only ^aciation but continual water
action.

FiooBB Na 6.

It is very certain that no nvcr has ever ex sted in the re^on of
the pot-holes at Cohasact to acco nt for the r e\ stcnce We are
forced, therefore, to ascr be the r or gin to the flow ng of water
from the great continental glacier.
, Considering the shallowness of the portions of the pot-holes dfr
scribed on Cooper's Island remaining for our observation, and the
probability that they have been visited by generations of people,
both of the Indian and tbe white man, it is not surprising that no
thing is left of their contents in or about them. There is, however,
one rounded stone in tbe possession of Mr. Charles S. Bates, the
owner of the estate on which the pot-holes are found, which tra-
dition states to hare been taken from the deepest one mentioned.
It is elliptical, nearly spherical, in form, — its longest diameter
being about four and a half inches, its shortest four inches. Trans-
Tersely, it is quite circular. It is of granite, not unlike that of the
surrounding country. There is no reason to question the truth of •
the tradition.

To account for the phenomena presented by the pot-holes de-
scribed, it is necessary to recognize that when the great glaaer

The Otology of Hinghan^ 57

lay over the land, many hundreds of feet in depth, daring the
summer, paiticularly towards the close of the period, rivers flowed
over its surface, as they now do over the glaciers of the Alpe.
As there, crevasses wei*e foimed in the ice, mto which the wi^er
poured and worked passages to the bottom of the great sheet, dis-
charging itself in torrents, often conveying stones and other mo-
raine matter to the rock surfaces below. Such passages in modern
glaciers become somewhat circular in form and are hence called
wells. They are also called moulins, the latter name from the
noise made by the rushing waters in the ice, being not unlike
that of a mill. The water, and the material conveyed by it through
such wells of the great glacier of our continent, must have smoothed
and worn rapidly away the rock surface on which they impinged,
often causing, by the same kind of action as is witnessed under
falls of water in some of our rivers, holes in the rocks like those
now under consideration. Of course the action of the water and
material conveyed by it would be immensely more rapid in form-
ing such holes, falling, as they undoubtedly did, from a great
height, and striking upon the rocks below with intense force.
This would lead to the abrasion of the rock* by any rotating
stones lodged in the hollows, so much more powerful than any
action we know under falling waters of the present day as to
render estimation of the result incalculable*

It is doubtful, however, to the mind of the writer, if circum-
stances often favored the formation of pot-holes directly beneath
such a fall and where its full force would be felt He is impressed
with the view that if this were the case they would not be found
having the form they horizontally present

It has, indeed, been thought strange tliat, as the ice moved con-
tinuously on, the holes were not found generally elongated in the
direction of the movement of the glacier rather than circular*
Such thought, however, is only consistent with the presumption
that the holes were made just where the water first fell upon
the rock surface below. Far more reasonable is it to suppose that
the holes were formed somewhat distant from this place, where
the masses of rocks borne by the waters found a lodging in some
depression, and there by rotation worked out the pot-holes. The ice
might move on and the waters descend through tne moulin far from
where they first fell, yet continue their flow in the same direction
as at first, and go on with the work of rotating the contents of the
hole through a whole season. In such case there could be, of course,
no reason to expect elongation.

The fact that pot-holes have been found in near proximity,
and in such positions relative to each other as to s!:^w them to
be ai)parently the result of independent falls of water, leads to a
consideration of what has been noticed in the Alps. * Observation
upon the glaciers there shows that as a crevasse is carried for-
ward by the general movement of the ice from where it received
the flow of waters in the summer, and winter cuts off the supply.

llP|f»W«Wi^»lp»|«ffP«WP«lWflP^«"WP

bS HUtary of Hingham,

it closes, leaving only upon the surface of the glacier a mark show*
ing where it had once been. Subsequently, a new one is formed
just where in relation to the land at the margin of the glacier,
the former one existed; and the waters of the succeeding sum-
mer again descend upon the rock surface near where they before
fell, but not often, probably, in exactly the same place ; and thus
otlier pot-holes are formed contiguous to those of a preceding sea-
son, and yet far enough distant to make it evident Uiat they were
not produced by the same flow of water.

Respecting the formation of the crevasses in about the same
places on the ice-sheet, tliere can be no question but tliat this it
due to the iri*egularitios of the subglacial surface; and as high
ridges transverse to tlie direction of the glacial flow must favor
their formation, it is no wonder that pot-holes are often found in
the slopes of such ridges and at their bases, as in the case of those
described at Cohasset.

Tliough lenticular hills, striae upon the rocks, and pot-holes
have been described as phenomena of the Glacial Period, it may
be well to add that both pot-holes and striae upon rocks may in
some instances have been formed in the Champlain Period, now
to be presented.

CHAMPLAIN PERIOD.

The early part of the Champlain Period was characterized by the
final melting away of the glacier. The phenomena attendant up-
on the great and long continued flooding over the ice-sheet and
over the surface of the land were of marked character. Un-
doubtedly, there is to be ascribed to it the formation of the ridges
and hillocks called Karnes, and the singular hollows in the lands
contiguous to these, known as '' kettle-holes." Of these some ac-
count will now be given.

KAMES.

There are found extensively over New England as well as in
other regions where the great ice-sheet covered the surface, ridges
of a peculiar character, which ordinarily run in a direction some-
what approximate to that of the principal striae on the rock sur-
faces northwest and southeast. That is to say, the general direc-
tion is this, but the variations are common, and often so like those
of a stream of water in its course as to have suggested that the
many rivers pouring over the glacial sheet during the prolonged
period of its subsidence, cutting into its surface and receiving
from it a large portion of its burden of rocky, gravelly, and sandy
material, somehow led to the formation of these singular eleva^
tions which have long excited the interest of beholders. The
view is a reasonable one, and if such was the origin of the kames
referred to, tlieir general direction and sinuous course is readily

■

accounted for, at curreDto of water on the melling f^ader voold
ordinarily run towarda the retreating ice front.

From quite a full account of the Kamea of New Eiu^and bf the
Rev. O. F. Wright, publiahed in the "^ Pix>oeedinga ofthe Bottxm
Soci-jty of Natural History,** VoL XXIL, Part 2, there are aerenl
mentioned which* had been traced ov-er one hundred ndlea. nieee
ridges vary in height from a few feet to nearly or qnita one hon-
dred, often having very iteep slopes and narrow snmmita. Tb^
are composed generally of stones, gravel, and sand.

It is necessary, before proccedin|^ further, to mention that Ilia
term ** kames" is not now so restrictivel}* used, to signify merely the
long ridges of glacial material referred to above, but b maoe te
include the numerous hilb and hillocks of the same charscter^
which are found often associated wiUi the ridges, espedaDj
towards the termination of the ice-sheet, and, like them, depottted
by the melting ice during its retreat from the surface. Tne ma-
terial is tlie same and its oriffn the same, the only difference
consisting in the method of its deposition.

There are frequently found among th« kame hills and hilloeka^
and often along the sides of the ridges, deep depresuona of the
surface, sometimes many acres in extent, which are known an
^^ kettle-holes " and of which an account wOl be i^ven further
on.

Few, if any, of the towns of the State can show more interesting
mementos of the great ice period than Hing^iam. What with (be
grand lenticular hills; the kame ridges and kame hills; the f^
ciated and striated rocks ; the large bowlders dropped from the
ice and scattered here and there over the surface; the deep
kettle-holes where masses of the ice rested, — one could scanelj
ask for more.

Besides all this, however, the Indian pot-holes of which e
description has been given may be seen by taking a short ride
to tlie town of Cohasse^ once a part of Hingham.

KAME RIDGES OF HINGHAIL

•

One of the most interesting of the kame ridges of the town is to
be found on the northern and northeastern borders of Accord
Pond. Where the small structures of the Hingham Water Com-
pany stand, at the margin of the pond near Whiting Street, the
ridge, which was approximately continuous, is no longer so, and
here are presented to %iew two transverse sections separated from
each other for a distance of 850 feet The direction of the kame
at this place was about south-southeast, as shown by a line between
the two exposed faces. - Following this southern portion, it is
found to skirt the pond in a somewhat irregular course, varying
from east to southeast and ends just before reaching Hin^am
Sti*eet in Rockland. The northerly part of the kame, commencing

60 Hivtory of Hingham.

from where it has been dug away at the line of boundary of the
land of the water company, follows a somewhat serpentine course,
first along the margin of the pond, southeast, and tiien in a north-
erly direction towards Whiting Street After crossing this street
it continues in a noi*therIy direction about 150 feet, then changing
and running westerly about 320 feet, where it terminates. The
whole length of the ridge is somewhat over five eighths of a mile.
It is well worth visiting, being a good example of a typical kame
ridge, aud though generally wood^, is sufficiently open at the sum-
mit to allow of free passage to pedestrians.

Kambs of Gushing Street. — Proceeding from Whiting Street^
north, through Gushing Street, the range called Breakneck Hills*
is at first seen at a considerable distance on the left, but these
elevations gradually approach the road, and at about half a mile
from Whiting Street terminate quite near to it. No sooner are
these passed than there looms up on the right side of the way^
in rear of a farmhouse and adjoining fields, a high and very re-
markable ridge, which is well worth ascending, not only to study
its construction, but because it affords quite an extensive view
from its summit of the Breakneck (kame) Hills and other objects.
The height of this ridge is about 80 feet, its length about 1200 feet,
and the slope from the top, especially on the west side, very steep.

A short distance north from the farmhouse mentioned, a great
kame ridge crosses the street, the transverse sections exposed by
digging the roadway through, rising high on each side. These
show the base of the ridge to be about 200 feet. Its greatest
height is about 100 feet. The length is greater than that of any
other in Hingham, being about a mile. Its general course is east-
southeast and north-northwest, but it is now so closely wooded as
to make particular examination difficult. Its southerly terminsr
tion is quite near Gardner Street.

Proceeding but a short distance further north on Gushing Street,
another ridge is found to cross the ro^d, but at a different angle
from the first, its course being approximately northwest and south-
east. It consequently intersects the other at a point distant five
to six hundred feet from the road, and there has its termination.
In the angle between the two is a deep kettle-hole depression.
This ridge extends northwest from the road between eleven and
twelve hundred feet

Gushing Street passes through another kame deposit, but this is-
rather a hillock than a ridge^ as it extends but a short distance
from the road on either side.

The Kames near Great Hill. — In passing through New Bridge
Street towards Hobart, looking to the right may be seen, on land of
Mr. F. W. Brewer, two high parallel ridges near the road, of about
equal altitude, and which coalesce with each other about 900 feet
from the street, by one of them — the most northerly — abruptly
dividing, one branch crossing to the other ridge, iht first con-
tinuing beyond about 350 feet. The northerly kame crosses the

:r,

- 4

The Oeologg qf Hinf^kam. '01

street, and its extreme length is 1825 feet The hei^t of these
ridges is from 80 to oO feet, with quite narrow sommits, and haf^
ing very sloping sides. Their composition is small stcmeSy mos^
ly shingle, gravel, and sand. As seen from Oreat Hill, thej are
striking objects to the view. A view of these is ipven, which alsa
shows in the distance, at the left, one of the beantifdlj roonded
summits of a drumlin, that of Baker^s HilL

A peculiarity of these kames is the fact that thdr direction ia
from west to east, thus being nearlj at rij^t angl«i to all others
which have been referred to. This direction woidd be entirely
inconsistent with the view that the great ice front of the i^der
continued to present itself, as at an earlier period, dong an mi»
broken line from west to east, for if so, the rivers cansed br the
melting glacier would have continued to flow south or nearly so.
Mr. Upham, m endeavoring to account for deflection in the Erec-
tion of some of the lenticular hills described 1^ lum, makes r^
marks which are quite applicable to the changed direction of the
kamcs under notice. In writiuff upon the retraat of the ioe-sheek
in southeastern Massachusetts, ne states :—•

** The warmth of the ocean, however/ had begun to mdt away the Ioe»
fickU which encroached upon its depths, more rapidly thim they were
driven back upon the land, or' in the ihallow touncb tooth of New Eng-
land. At their further departure it seems probaUe that tUs csnso
produced within the Gulf of Maine a great bay in the temdnal front e(
the ice-sheet, so that it entirely melted away east of MsMSchusetti, wUle
it remained in great depth upon all the territory except its southeast por»
Uon. Tlie effect of this unequal rate of retreat would be to leaTe the lea
upon our coast unsupported at the east side, and to cause its motion
qucntly to be deflected towards the Tacsnt area.'t

This view being taken as a correct one, it will be at once recog^'
nized that the direction of the ice movement itself would be also
approximately that of the rivers that poured over it, and conse-
qucntly of the kamcs formed by the debris wadied into the river-
beds from the glacier.

There is not wanting other evidence than that here suggested
to sustain the view that in eastern Massachusetts the onward
movement of the ice changed towards the dose of the Glacial
Period from the normal southeast direction to one more east, aa
a second series of striae are found on some of our rock exposures
attesting this.

Another remarkable system of kame ridges exists at the north-
west extremity of Hingliam, extending more than 3000 feet along
the west side of Stoddard's Neck, and across Beal Street near the
bridge over Weymouth Back River, from thence southward to a
little indentation just north of BeaFs Cove. These ridges nm in a
general north and south direction, although winding and branch-
ing considerably south of Beal Street. On Stoddani's Neck the
heavily wooded ridge varies from 50 to 7o feet in height ; on the
west side above it is quite abrupt. South of Beal Street the steep

AfeiHUiiiMaaiiiAlitelfeMBaMMIMldM^^

62 History of Hingham.

ridges are about 50 feet bigh. Tbere is anotber low ridge on tbe
east side of Stoddard's Neck, and on the soutb side of Beal Street
are several small ridges and kame hills, besides the high serpen-
tine kames.

A kame ridge of considerable length borders the western shore
of Fulling-Mill Pond, and another skirts its southern shore. The
first-named extended several years ago to the street line, but has
been dug away 50 or 60 feet The direction of this kame is gen-
erally north and south, varying in some portions toward the east
and west of north, and its length is nearly 2000 feet Its width
at base is some 150 feet, and its highest elevation about 50 feet
Somewhat less than 1500 feet south from its northerly termination
another ridge runs west at a right angle from this one, for a dis*
tance of 750 feet, having an elevation of 25 feet, in places, and a
basal width of 150 feet

Beyond these ridges, to the southward, are numerous kame hills,
ao covered by forest growth as to obscure observation. Still fur-
ther away, especially east and southeast, are hills of this charac-
ter, of considerable elevation.

THE KAME HILLS AND HILLOCKS OF HINGHAM.

The range called Breakneck Hills, which crosses Whiting Street
some distance north of Cushing, and extends southwest half a
mile or more, is a great kame deposit the material of it not differ-
ing from that of die kame ridges. The width of the range varies
somewhat, but averages perhaps 1000 feet. The average height is
about 50 feet A very considerable depression of the surface ex-
ists along the north side of the range, followed by other approx-
imately parallel elevations, with depressions alternating for a
considerable distance, of the same general character but less
prominent

The long range of hills lying nearly parallel with, and north of
the Old Colony Railroad, between Nortli and East Weymouth,
though outside the limits of Hingham, may well be mentioned
here, as these hills can hardly fail to attract the attention of trav-
ellers by the railroad, as they pass within full sight of them. These
are kame elevations, and owe their ori<rin to the great continental
glacier. The general direction of this range is west-northwest
and east-southeast

The separate kame hills and hillocks cover'a very considerable
portion of the surface, especially in the southern and western sec-
tions of the town, where they present conspicuous features in the
landscai)e. This is the case on the territory bordering French
Street, from Hobart to High, and on High Street west. Here may
be seen an area almost entirely covered with hills and hillocks,
having many kettle-hole depressions among them. The same
may 1x5 said of much of the territory bordering Main Street, from
Cushing Street to Prospect Street, and some distance bej'ond. The

Hke Oeolon qf Bimgfkm. 88

road indeed runs fhrough and over hSlockt of kame material anffl
rcacliiug Prospect Street, where the surface becomea more lerd, and
so continues until near Whiting Street'

The kame elevations of Hingham are bjr no means lunited to the
ridges and the rounded hills that cover so large a portion of its snr-
face. They indeed present tliemselves sometimes in extendve d^
posits that can hardly be included under the head of cither. One
sucli is of so marked a character, and has such remarkable pn^Mii^
tions, as may make particular mention of it deuraUe. This is to
be found soutliwest from Great Hill, bordering the south ride of
Hobart Street, along which it extends irregular^. It may propei^
ly be designated as table land, being of a height Tarying from 80
to 50 feet, and havino: at top a flat surface. It measures in length
east and west about half a mile, and has a width of from 500 to
lOOO feet Its sides are very steep, and are thiddj oovered with
trees. At the south side of it is a large kettle-hde, whidi is par*
tially embraced in the kame limits by an extension of an arm nom
the main body. As a sketch of the kame, however rough, will |^ve
a better idea of its singular contour than any descriptioiiy one is
presented on the map cl the town. .

Tlic country about this interesting kame is well worth the ob-
servation of those who woijld know of glacial phenomena in Hing>
ham. North is Great Hill, one ci the large dnunlins, or lenticular
hills, and south of it to High Street, and indeed fiur beyond, the
country is covered with kame ridges and hillocks of urr^golar rise
and shape.

The effect upon the surface of the town by the distribotion of
kame material was much greater than that caused simply by its
deposit in hills, ridges, and other elevations, for it is likely that all
these contain scarcely one half the whole quantity resting over its
area. Temporary lakes formed by barriers of ice and cSSier mat*
ter, together with the flow of the waters, undoubtedly led to such
spread of the gravel and sand as to result in the formation of
the extensive plains that form at different levels so large a por>
tion of the territory. This was not all, for great bodies df it were
deposited in such depressions of the general surface as to choke up
the water-courses. There is no doubt in the mind of the writer
that our principal stream, that of Weir River, pursued its way m
pre-^lacial times through a very different channel from that it now
foUowR. and instead of turning east of north as it does at Hing^
ham Contrc just before rcachinjic Leavitt Street, and finally enter-
ing tlic sea between World's End and Hull, it discharged itself
directly into Hinghnm Harbor, which then was open to the spread
of its waters but a few hundred feet from where tne river takes an
eastward course as mentioned.

It 18 due to Prof. W. O. Crosby to st^te that he suggested the
probability of this to the writer, and that subsequent examination
by both revealed to us that an extensive kame deposit here had
caused the river, which had flowed for some distance directly
north, to make the detour mentioned.

£ii

JiiiiaaMiaiiMi' tf iiUM Mii tpummmmati^ikmmiitk

64 Histarj/ qf Hingham*

KETTLE-HOLES.

Intimatelj connected with the kames are depressions in the
surface, sometimes of considerable depth, whicn have received
this name. Their origin, formerly a puzzle to students of glaciid
phenomena is no longer so, as nature has been detected in tho
very act of their formation. From observations of Dr. G. F. .
Wright upon the glaciers of Alaska, he found that when a con*
siderable surface of a melting ice-sheet had been covered over to
any depth with earth material, rocks, pebbles, and sand, the ice
thus prevented from melting beneath rcmaincNi intact, whilst all .
more exposed over the field sunk away and finally disappeared.
The result of this would be to leave a great mass, sometimes of
large area, to settle as the glacier retreated from it, with enormous
weight upon the subsoil below. Here it would remain until melt-
ed, and it might require the heat of many summers to effect its
entire dissolution, protected as it would be from the sun*s rays
by its earthy covering. As, however, the melting progressed, this
covering matter would necessarily slide down around its margin^
producing ridges and hillocks of material the forms of which
would be more or less modified by the running water from the
ice as it dissolved away. With the accumulated quantity of mat-
ter thus deposited, the resting-place of the ice mass would be
much below the surrounding surface. After knowing the results
of Dr. Wright's investigations, it may be confidently stated that
there can be no longer any reasonable doubt concerning the origin
of these depressions.

THE PASSING AWAY OF THE ICE-SHEET.

Some sugjicostions respecting the kame ridges, the kame hills^
and the kettle-boles may well be presented in remarks upon the

f)assing away of the great ice-sheet that had for ages covered the
and. The reality of tlie ice spread over the whole North, where
previously for millions of years a tropical climate had prevailed ;
its increase until it hid from the sun's rays the summits ef all
but the highest mountain-peaks ; its onward grand movement so
fruitful of great results, bearing as it did upon and within it the
material of the present hills and valleys ; and its final melting
away, leaving an entirely remodelled surface, — are no longer .
questions for discussion. Let us therefore contemplate what the
condition of the glacier was, particularly when passing away, first
briefly referring to what was probable at an earlier date.

The question sometimes presents itself to mind why, with tho
onward movement of tlie ice for many thousands of years, was not
all the loose material of the previously decayed rocks borne to its
termination long before the change that led to its passing away,
thus preventing its spreading over the land in its retreat such
immense quantities of material now forming the surface in this

I ■ a

K^BjjMni

y/la'^'rr fd"'^'^'-'-

i- ("

v»'"

The OmJogg qf SimgkawL 66

region, and consclluting the Innumerable kame hills and luOoeka
that diversify the land^pe.

In considering this quesiiont it shonld be borne in mind that
with the graduid increase of tibe ice in an epoch of intense cold^
there could probably have been but little flooding of the devatoa
regions, and consequently less distuibanoe of the loose material
than in a later age. Consideration of this may resnlt in tbe liew
that Ihe glacier during the greater part of its existence had lesa
to do wiUi the transportation of the kame material than when
passing away, aided as it then was bv the torrents of water that
flowed over its surface and swept tbe hills of all movable matter,
as they emerged from the melting ice. The writer is strongly in-
clincd to this view, as it will satiuactorily account for the immense

auantity of stones, eravel, and sand borne upon and deposited hf
lie glacier when it finally disappeared from uie snrfaoe.
Now let us picture to ourselves if we can the probable state of
things over and about this town when the ice-sheet had beoome
reduced from possibly thousands of feet in thickness to a few
hundred, bearing upon it great (^uanlities of transported material,
and having floods of water pouriuff over it and in its diannds sndi
as the world could never before have witnessed. Let us reoog^
nizc, too, that its water-courses were beins gorged with stones,
gravel, and sand, and that vast collections of these were protecting
great ai*cas of the ice from the sun*s rays, often causing; tbe dian*
ncls of water to deviate from their normal course in seeking new
channels. Let us note, too, that the great body of the ice itself
had by lessened continuity ceased its onward movement, and ws
shall find reasons for all we see and wonder at in the marvdlous
diversity of the present surface over large portions of thb territory.
Where great areas of the glacier by the protectinff dAris were k^
intact for a long period when that about them had melted awav,
there would be found about each such area, as before stated m
treating of the formation of kettle-holes, hills and hillocks formed
by the falling of the gravel and sand from its summit, more or
less modified by the melting ice ; and when all the ice had melted
there would remain a deep depression such as we now know as
kettle-holes. Where channels existed of any length, and these
became filled with tbe sand and gravel, there would be formed
ridges; and when large areas of the ice first melted away, the
material flooded into these areas would form hills and ranges
of hills such as we now find occupying a considerable portion of
our territory.

It will be readily recognized that, though the course of the chan-
nels of the surface and in the glacier was generally the same as
that of the movement of the ice-sheet itself, and consequently
the ridges formed would be now found having a like direction, yet
when, by the clogging of the channePs unequal melting, the water
was forced to deviate, the ridges formed would present themselves
varying much from the normiu direction, as they now do in regions

TOL. 1.— 5

^ifea^iMiA^^Hto«MMi^MHi 'J

66 HisUn^ f^ HlmffiiamL'

approximaring to the termination of the great ioe-sheet Some
of our ridgety notably those of Great Hill, have an east-west
direction, snch as it is supposed the glacier itself had near its
closing period over eastern Massachusetts ; but others or portions
of others vary so as to be found running in ^sery direction.

BOWLDERS.

Bowlders are found scattered over all parts of the North within
the region occupied by the ice, having been borne by it from more
northern positions than those they now occupy. With a knowl-
edge of the direction of the movement of the glacier, they can
often be traced to the locality whence they came.

A marked instance, often cited by geologists, and previously
mentioned in the preliminary remarks upon the glacial period, is
that of bowlders found south of Providence, of a character rcadiW
recognized, being those of a porphyritic iron ore from a well-
known bed at Cumberland, R. I. They exist in the soil or upon
the surface for a distance of thirty-Qve miles or more in the direc-
tion mentioned, but are never found in any other. So of all
bowlders found. If of distinctive character, they are often recog*
nized as belonging to rock formations north, sometimes more '
than a hundred miles distant.

Thev varv i uch in size, from cobble-stones to masses of enor-
mous magnitude, snch as it is hard to realize have l)ccn trans-
ported great distances. There are none in IIin<^1mm equal in
dimensions to those found elsewhere. One of tlie largest ob-
served by the writer is in woods bordering Rockland Street, but
a few feet from the road upon the right side going east, not far
from the foot of Old Colony Hill. It is of granite and measures
nineteen feet in length, sixteen in width, and scventcon in height
= 5,163 cubic feet. The weight of this must be over 430 tons.
Some larire masses have become detached from the main hodv
and these are included in the estimate of size and wciirht. Large
as this bowlder is, it is small compared with one in the town of
Madison, X. H., which moasures 75 X 40 X 30 feet = 90,000
cubic feet, and which consequently weighs over 7,500 tons.

Great numbers of bowlders are found together in certain locali-
ties of this town, the most notable of which is that of the south-
western slope of ProsjKJCt Hill, where they cover a large portion
of the surface.

On the northeast slope of Otis Hill are a few bowlders which
call for particular notice from the fact that they are of granite
and that no rock of this kind occurs north of the hill less than
fifteen miles distant. The ice therefore must have transported
them at least as far as that and possibly very much farther.

There is a lK>wlder now to be seen in what was cmce an exten-
sive kame hill known as Cobb*s Bank, which is fast disappearing
by being dug away. The bowlder projects from the face ot the cliff

Tk€ Otoloffif tif Hinfkam, 91

iftnd BhowB the more from its color eontrulinc itnin^ vitti fliaft
of the Burrounding materiaL It U ol de^>-rea enuiite. Hm front
face measures about ei^t feet aoroM horizoutawr, is rix &et Ugh,
and the upper surface from the front to tbe eliff whidi boldi it !■
ux feet It probably does not extend mneh futher bade into Hm
gravel, aa this slopes from the rear to tiie front so as to gin tt
support Titbout such extendon. As bowlders (tf lUa dts- an
very rarely found in kame depouti) it haa nmdi intervsted gwdor
gists. See figure NOb 6.

FiousE No. s.

One of the most interesting bowlders to visit in this nei(^boi>-
hood, though just beyond the town limits, may Tell be mentioned
here. It is to be found on the left side of Derby Street, a short
distance from the line that divides South Weymouth from Hing-
ham. It is upon a high rock declivity where it vas deposited ^
tbe ice many thousands of years ago, and vhere it will remain as '

68 Butory </ Bimgham.

nuDjr thoQBaadB more in all probability, unleu vandal handa of
man aball disturb ita long repose. See ^gure No. 7.

HHI

|Sg|^^^^^ii

R^^' %

!n ^

-r: _-^-. • .•^- J'

r "V

' ,. ,/ ,/

fc -'

' --^^

.-1 i

^*'*.

, , ,.:.^^i

FiouKS No. 7.

At Hiiit's Core, OD land formerly belonging to General Benja-
min Lincoln, is a large bowlder of coniilomcrate, someirhat rec-
tanfTiilar in form, which is about fifteen feet long, eifrht feet wide,
and ten feet high. A measurement around its Aides and enda
gave a circurofurence of about 48 feet.

RECENT PERIOIX

Little can be said of the immediate effect of the great change
that usiiercd in the earlier era of this period, a change arising, so
far as can be now known, by the rc-clevation of the land from the
Arctic Circle i^outli to about the latitude of Xorthcrn Massachu-
setts. Tliis rise of the land has 1>ocn bofore mentioned, and fig-
ures showing tlie degree of clevatiun at vnrious points have been
given. The magnitude of this was Kiidi as to have produced un-
doubtedly a much colder climate overtlie country even far south
of New England, and to this was probably due the dcstniction of
the huge animals that liad for ngcs roamed over the Continent
from its most sonthem limits to the Arctic region.

In Europe two eras of this period have been recognized, — the
first characterized by a second advance of the Glacial sheets

I%§ CMogjf ^ BSmglkmm^ 89

irhich led many Arctie tpedei of animals to extend fliemadvea
eoutli to the Mediterranean^ amenff them the reindeer, and this
era has hence been called the Reindeer Era, while the latter part
of the period has been called the Modem Brk

As there has been no evidence prodnced showing a second ad-
Tance of the Glacier in America snch distinction ooes not apolj
here. We will embrace therefore what is f orUier to be mU onMr
the heading of the Modem Bra,

MODEBN ERA;

Before limiting remarks to what appertains alone to fhe terri*
tory of Hingham,it may be well to express a few wmds here npoa
changes of the era that have occurred in other r^cms, and wmdi
are of general interests

Among such changes may be instanced those that have token

Cce by elevation and depr^Mion of the earth's snr&ce. It has
n demonstrated by investigations made for the govemmoit of
Sweden that the coasto of imt country and of Finland have beoi
slowly rising for the past one or two c^itories. On the other
hand, as is well known, a slow subsidence has been going on in
Greenland during the past four centaries, for hundrSs of miles.
along the coast, where in places the buildings of the early iidutai*
tants have been found submerged.

Tlic Geologist of New Jersey, Mr. 6. H. Cook, became satisfied
from his investigations that a slow depVcssion of the sur&ee alonff
the coasts of that State, and also along the ooasta of Long Island
and Martha's Yinevard, had been in progress since the oeenpatioii
of the country by the white man.

An immense subsidence has been teking place over a large area
of the Pacific Ocean which has carried beneatli the waves hnn-
dreds of islands to the depth of thousands of feet. These in*
stances arc only given as indications of chances that are occurring
extensively over perhaps a large portion of we globe.

The extinction of species of lile has been going on during tlds
era as in earlier periods, accelerated undoubtedly bv the asenqr
of man. The cases of the Dodo and of the Soliteire m the iuands
of the Indian OccaA, of the Dinomis of New Zealand, of the
^pyornis of Madagascar, and of the Great Auk of the North Sm,
and of the coasts of Labrador, Maine, and Massachusetto, may be
cited among birds.

A noted instance of destruction tending fast to extinction is
that of the noble animal of the western wilds, the Bison. At the
time of the settlement of the country by the white man, immense
herds roamed over territoiy extending from Mexico far north into
British America, and from the Rocky Mounteins east to the At-
lantic, nearly or quite all of which have been annihilated, not so
much by the reasonable requirements of civilization as by the

^^..^

70 History qf Hingham.

brutality of sach as find sport in wanton slaughter of their unre-
sisting victims, that they may boast of th% numbers slain by their
skill and prowess.

Of vegetable species, some of the noblest are doomed to destruc-
tion through the cupidity and recklessness of man. Of the early
extinction of that giant of the California forests, the Sequoia, or
Redwood, Dr. Asa Gray expressed himself as certain.

We will now dwell upon the phenomena of the Modem Era of
the Recent Period as presented in Hingham. At its advent vegeta-
ble and animal life had spread over the surface, and the land was
again undoubtedly clothed with verdure. In the low and swampy
grounds peat-producing plants had extended themselves, while
upon all the higher elevations shrubs and trees had sprung up
and covered the earth with dense forests, under the shadow of
which the gentle deer and other herbivorous species found suste*
nance and safe retreats, and where, too, carnivorous beasts, the
bear, the wolf, and others sought their prey.

Notwithstanding the fact stated that since the rc-clevation of
the land that ushered in the Recent Period, it has remained very
nearly stationary, yet there is much to show change, — mostly,
however, caused by irruption of the sea and consequent destruction
of barriers that protected the land from the waters. Within the'
memory of the writer a considerable body of peaty matter, sev-
eral feet in tliickness, rested upon the land below high-water
mark in Huit's Cove, which of course was formed there when its
whole area was an inland swamp.

Many Hingham people will remember the peat swamp cut
through between Weir River Village and Hull Street when Rock-
land Street was laid out and made, and particularly the huge
trunks of trees that were found in the peat, some of which may
yet be seen along the marpjin of the road. This whole territory
had long been inundated with salt water at high tide, but it needs
no argument to show that this could not have been so when the
locality was congenial for the growth and development of the
plants that formed the peat and the trees that flourished there.

It would be interesting to fix the time when man first appeared
in this locality, but this can never be known. It may be sur-
mised, however, that it was not lonj^ after the commencement of
the Modem Era, as he certainly existed upon the continent, and
primitive man naturally made his home on the borders of rivers
and about the inlets of the ocean, because of the nutriment easily
obtained from the waters for his subsistence.

The most that can be learned concerning the earliest inhabi-
tants of the territory of Hingham, must be from the relics found
in their graves, and from the tools and implements they used,
found scattered in the soil, or in shell heaps about their habi-
tations. So far as these have been examined there is no evidence
of the existence of any race preceding the one found here when
the white man first appeared.

The Geology of Bingham. 71

Some account of investigatioiiB made to learn more than was
known of the Indians of Hingham, and some mention of chance
discoveries yielding information concerning the animals that were
contemporary with them, will now be given.

REMAINS OF AN EARLY PERIOD FOUND IN

HIN6HAH.

In a shell heap on World's End there were found several years
since by Professor Spencer F. Baird, Dr. Thomas M • Brewer, Hr.
Francis W. Brewer, and others, bones of the

Goose Fish, — Lophius piscaioriuif
Cody — Gadui eaUariuSj Lion.,

witli many of ankDOwn fishes.
Birds beloDgiDg to tevend spedes, large and small, bat not recognii*

able.
Deer, — Canaais virgintanut (Bodd), Gray.
Foxes, — Vulpes vulgaris^ pennsylvanieue (Bodd), CSonet.
Otter, — Lvtra cancuiensit, Tarton.
Red Squirrel, teeth of, i — Scinrus hudioniuif Pallas.
Beaver, teeth o^ — Ccutorjiber^ canadensit (LihD.)| Allen. .

Besides the bones, there were several pieces of pottery orna-
mented by dots and lines.

One deer bone was finely i)ointed apparently for use as an awl.
Tlie most of these relics were found on beds of charcoal.

As the Indian wont no farther for food than he could help« it
may reasonably be inferred that the animals whose bones are men-
tioned were found in the immediate neighborhood.

In 18G8 Professor Spencer F. Baird, Professor Jeffries Wyman,
Mr. Fearing Burr, Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, and others, including
the writer, joined in a party for the purpose of exploration at a
known burial-place of the aborigines on the slope of Atlantic
Hill near Nantasket Beach. The hill had been much dug away
for roadways, and bones had been frequently found there with
other relics, such as broken pottery, axes, chisels, etc.

From what had been obtained by previous parties, and from
what little was procured by the persons above-mentioned, it was
manifest that the burials were comparatively recent. The best
evidence that the locality was used as a place of sepulture since
the advent of the white man, was the fact that among undoubted
specimens of abori^i^inal art were quite as undoubted specimens of
the skill of the European, notably in fraj^ments of brass imple-
ments such as kettles or pans. Wishing if possible to examine a
burial-field where endence of greater antiquity would be conclu-
sive, the party proceeded to the slope of a declivity, facing south
towards Weir River Bay, where numerous circular depressions on

78 Hial/ary qf Hingham.

the sorface indicated the ancient graves of the Indian. The
writer will confess to a feeling somewhat repulsive as we com-
menced di^ng open the resting-places of the dead and exposing
their remains to the rude gaze of the alien race that had sup-
planted them in the land they loved. This feeling did not how-
ever last long, after finding that there were but few human remains
to be disturbed ; for nearly all that had composed their corporeal
forms in life, the flesh, the sinews, and the lK>ncs, had alike been,
for a long period perhaps, resolved into their original elements,
leaving but few traces behind. There was not found in the first
grave opened a single relic of humanity. Much more care was
taken in opening the seamd, the earth being very thinly scraped
away as excavation was made downwards, every ounce being
closely examined.

In this ouc, strange to say, a part of the occiput of a skull was
soon disinterred, which, however, was too far gone for preserva-
tion, and some inches below, teeth of the body that had been
placed here ; but not another bone or part of a bone of the whole
skeleton. AH had disappeared. The burial posture of the dead
had been a sitting one, as shown by the fact that at a proper dis-
tence from the surface there was found a collection of shells, all
of which had been undoubtedly placed about the person in the .
posture stated.

The investigators had indeed come upon the resting-place, with-
out doubt, of such as had lived and died before, and perhaps long
before, the foot of tlie white man impressed itself upon the soiL

In swampy land brought under cultivation by Mr. John R. Brewer
on the mai*gin of Weir River a pair of dccr^s antlers and several
rib bones were dug up. The corrugation on the antlers and the
basal ring is perfect; the antlers measure in circumference 2|
incites, and though the tips and prongs are broken off, their
length on the outside curve is 11 inches.

At another locality on Mr. Brewer's land not far from the foot
of Martin's Lane, there was dug from low meadow-land, formerly
a swamp, a pair of antlers attached to a part of the skull.

A pine cone and several stone implements were found in the
same ground not far distant.

The writer has thought it well to state what little he has con-
cerning the North American Indian in Hingham, confining himself
simply to the fact of his existence upon these shores in the modem
era, at a somewhat remote period before the occupancy of the
white man, and incidentally mentioning some of the implements
used by him in obtaining sustenance, as well as some of the ani-
mals that were contemporary with him. What else relates to him,
his life in war and in |)eace, what his association with our fathers,
and through what causes he disappeared from the land, — all this
belongs to the historian of human events, and it is hoped that he
will be able to glean from records of the past much that yet re-
mains unknown.

Let us emphauze to our mindB aonie of flie duuigM in tbe
past that we maj the more readUj appreciate thdr aorpririiii;
character.

Those who have followed fbe writer in his attempt 4o portr^f
past events in the history of this lo(»JitT liaTe been led to eontem*
plate it, at first, only as an nndistingaisned part of a BK^ten {^obe
wheeling with immense velocity throoj^ space about ha pwent
suii, and gradually throng^ comitless ages cooling and *«»^'^g to-
wards consolidation.

A second view, millions of years later, thoac^ immensely remote
in the past from our own period, presents a very different aoepe.
llie earth has become incmsted and the land and Hie waters di-
vided ; the atmosphere is hot and murky bv exhalations from the
surface ; and corrosive rains descend upon Uie primeval rocks, di»»
integrating their substance and washing it into the waters, wlmns
it is forming the first sedimentary strata of the planeL

There is no life discernible, for conditions &vord»le to life do
not exist on the gradually developing worUL

The third striking view in the order of events long after pre-
sents the dry land of onr territory limited to the area whcm now
arc found the granitic rocks, and this land borders waters of an
extensive basin, in which is being slowly depodted the sediment
of rivers, and upon tliis sediment, which is of dayejinatter mi^ be
seen moving forms of life; for the Period is t£e Primordial, and
trilobites abound in great numbers along the coast nuugin in ito
shallow waters.

The next view is yet more striking ; for the whole snrboe of the
land bordering the basins along the coast of the territory now of
Hingham and Nantasket is distarbed by violent igneous araon, and
volcanoes in active operation are pouring from their craters vast
floods of lava over large areas of the surface.

Many, very many millions of years more elapse before* another
glimpse is vouchsafed of this locality. Its characteristics are not
distinctly seen, but by a clear view of the landscape of the nei|^
borhood and over a vast portion of the land, we recmnise that
they could not differ from those of the other redone. It b in the
great Carboniferous Period, and tropical heat prevails even to the
Arctic The air is heavy with carbon, and gigantic trees and
other plants, of a character now known only in the Torrid Zone,
grow profusely over the surface.

The next view presented is the marvellous one that has been
dwelt upon, that of ice cohering not only this territory but extend-
ing from the Arctic Circle, far south and east, into the waters of the
Atlantic, there dropping off icebergs as is now the case from the
margins of the great ice-sheet of Greenland.

We take another and a last retrospective view of the localitj
destined to be our abode. It is in the early part of the present
era. Vegetable and animal life have again spread over the tep>
ritory. Tlie Indian roams in the forests hunting deer and other

kMtt

74 History of Hingkawu '. '

^^
animals, and he fishes from his bark canoe in the same waters
where are now found the boat and the rod of the white man.

A panorama trulj of wonderful scenes, such as well maj stagger
belief in minds not accustomed to geological research, but which
in the main can be as satisfactorily demonstrated as any events in
human progress.

If such contemplations incline us to dwell upon the insignifi-
cance of Man, we have only to turn our thougnts to his great
achievements to be astonished by their grandeur. Compared with
the universe of matter, he is indeed, physically, but as a grain
of jsand, or a mote in the sunbeam, to a revolving world; but as
an intellectual and conscious being, he is more than all the mate-
rial universe, in tlie great creation of God. Atom as he is on
the earth he inhabits, time and space alike yield to him secrets
unrevealed, so far as known, to other created intelligence.

He turns over the strata of the earth as leaves of a book;
reads the record of thousands and millions of years, and the his-
tory of the world he stands on is known to him. lie directs his
thoughts to the distant spheres in the infinitude of space, he weighs
them as in a balance, he measures them, and their wciglit and size
are alike revealed to him. He even asks of them tlicir composi-
tion, and lo ! they answer in letters of light on an instrument of
his handiwork. He studies their motions and the velocities of
their movements, and predicts with unerring certainty where in
the canopy of the heavens they will be found long after his own
mortal being shall have crumbled to dust. Well may he exclaim :
^^Thou hast indeed made man but little lower than the angels.
Feeble and weak though he be, yet as the creature of Tliy hand,
endowed with power to comprehend something of Thy works, by
no means to be despised."

MINERALOGY.

BT THOICAS T. BOUVlL

Ih yiew of erroneous idett preralent in the ndndi of maiqrt ^
few remarks of a general character conoendng minerals migr jiolk
be out of place.

It should be understood that mineral bodies are not limited to
those of a stony nature, but that thej embrace ererjtfaing of aa
inorganic character that is found within or at the snrbee of the
earth. This definition therefore includes not only all BoekSy
Pebbles, Sands, and Clays, but even Water, and Am Oaaea tbaft
form the atmosphere. Temperature alone determines the oondt
tion of inorganic bodies so far as relates to their being Solid, Lio»
uid, or Gaseous ; and at a low degree Ice is as much a rock as fa
Granite or any other solid earthy materisL Baise the tempera*
ture enough and all matter becomes Liquid or Gaseous. No one
but admits Quicksilver to be a metal because at the imlinary
temperature of the atmosphere it remains a fluid.

Not an uncommon thing is it to meet persons who liiink tbaft
stones grow like organized beings ; and often this view is supposed
by them to be fully demonstrated by the statement that after plow-
ing a field and picking out, as they believe, about all the rtones
in the soil, they find quite as many as they first did when anin
plowing the same field a few years later. It is diflicult sometunes
to convince such persons that they are wrong. Of course there fa
no such thing as inward development of a stone, as is the case
with organic life, and there is no possibility of a pebble or other
rock mass in the soil adding one atom to its substance. There fa
often enlargement, where a rock is forming by accretion, as when
hot waters containing carbonate of lime deposit it on that already
formed, or when mountain rivulets that have taken up iron from
decomposing rocks in their course, deposit this from time to time
as a bog ore in marshy grounds. So in caverns, waters saturated
with carbonate of lime dripping into them from above, form
stalactites and stalagmites, slowly constructing the bMutifid
columhs that are seen in the Mammoth, the Luray, and many other
caves of our country.

L:=^ii-:-:l

itaaA

Mitarjf qf Eingkam^

In til these cases it may in a sense be called growth, bot there
is no relation between it and the growth of fwimitlt and plants.
It is increase by additions to the surface.

Thns far mineral bodies have been mentioned. The rocks of the
«arth are fl^nerally composed of aggregations of minerals, as
Granite, of Quartz, Orthociase, and Mica ; and Diorite, of Oligoclase
and Hornblende.

Let ns now consider briefly what a mineral species is.

A mineral is a homogeneous, inorganic substance, either simple
in containing but one element, as Sulphur, Carbon, Gold, Iron,
Copper, Quicksilver, and the other native metals, or a compound
of elements which have been united by laws as immutable as those
that govern the motions of the planeto, or any others that act in
the universe. To recognize this clearly is to awaken an interest
in inorganic matter that tends to enlarge one^s conceptions of the
whole material world. The writer will refer to one or two mineral
bodies as illustrations of the law of combinatious.

Quartz is a compound of two elements, Silicon and Oxygen,
united in the proportion of three atoms of Oxygen to one of Sili-
con, and these proportions never vary. Tlic resultant substance,
Quartz, or pure Silica, can and does unite as an acid with very
many bases, which in relation to it act as alkalies, forming the '
greater portion of all known minerals; and these unions are
always governed by the law of definite proportions.

Take Carbon. This appears as a native mineral in the Dia>
mond ; but it appears also combined with Oxygen, forming Car-
bonic Acid, in the proportion of one atom of Carbon to two of
Oxygen. This Carbonic Acid, in its turn, unites with a large
number of basic substances, forming carbonates of Iron, Copper,
and very many others, always in definite proportions. Nothing
more can be said here of the chemical unions by which minerals
are produced ; but something must be added relative to the law
of crystallization, by which particles of the mineral as formed are
drawn together, and led to arrange themselves in crystals such
as we see in nature. No one can behold these beautiful objects
without admiration, and this is greatly increased in those who
know something of the forces which lead to their development.
Crystals of the mineral species have been rightly characterized
as the flowers of the inorganic world. To have some idea of their
formation, let the reader^s mind consider the phenomena attend-
ing the cooling of a hot saturated solution of any salt. A& the
water loses its heat, the particles of salt, in forming, will at once
by attraction be drawn together, and the molecules will arrange
themselves by the law of crystallization in well-defined forms, —
if common salt, in cubes ; if alum, in octahedrons. If the water
contains several salts, one will be found generally to have a ten-
dency to crystallize before the others, and may be thus formed
about any substance placed in the solution ; and subsequently crys-

Uimviogg. 77

tab of tlie others mil form npoD the first and adhere to it| and
these m turn will hafe others added to diem.

Let ns now conuder whi^ has been going on In nature. Fia-^
sures have been formed, by earthquake action or oliierwise, extend*
ing upwards through the rod^ strata; and the hot waters of
thermal springs, holding in solution nd^Mral dementa dissolved
from the rocks in deep recesses of the earth, luiTe risen upwards^
and losing more or less of tiieir heat as tfaej passed through tlio
colder rocks towards the surface, have deposited minerals upon
the walls, one species often succeeding another. Thus were de-
posited the magnificent crystallizations of Quarts, Fluor Sparj
Galena, Carbonate of Lime, and other species £ram Cumberland and
Derbyshire in Great Britain, specimens of which migr be seen in
the Hingham Public Library.

Minends are not only found to have been produced in Uquid
solutions contdning thdr dements, but thqr are also prodimed
whenever a molten condition of matter allows di the me movi^
ment of its particles ; consequently the dements of an * igneous
rock, as they cool in coming to the surface, will tend to anr^
gate themselves according to their chemical affinities, aiMT to
arrange themselves in crystals ; but the cooling being genmllT to»
rapid for this, we have, as in granite, only an aggi^ation of im-
perfect crystals.

With these very general remarks upon minerals, intended milT
as a very partial presentation of tlie matter, the writer will ouH
attention to the few that are found in Hingham. The larger
portion of these have been already mentioned in the Geologj
of the town as constituents of tlie rocks, namdy, Quarts, Ifieay
Hornblende, Augite, Orthoclase, and Oligodase.

Quartz may be otherwise referred to wan as a component pari
of a rock, as it appears forming veins in everr part of the town;.
and in cavities of these veins have been found some beautiful but
small crystals of Amethyst, which is a variety of Quarts.

Jasper, another variety of the same mineral spedes, is found
at Rocky Neck, as stated in the Qwlogj of that locdify..

Other minerals, not of the Quartz family, are «-

Pyrite (Sulphide of Iron), which often appears in small enUe
crystals in the Trap rocks.

Gbalcopyrite (Sulphide of Copper), which has been found dit»
seminated in a vein of Quartz.

Molybdenite (Sulphide of Molybdenum), observed in small scalea
in granite blasted from a ledge on the line of the Nantasket BaU-
road, near Weir River.

Epidote, often found at and near the junction of Trap with
Granite, sometimes exhibiting slight crystallization. It also*
occurs, of an impure character, in veins at Kocky Nedc.

Calcite (Carbonate of Lime), found in digging a ditch on tha
line of and near Burton's Lane, where some rock was blasted

^i.:,a>>>,».i>a,>^,J^i,...=,i^>»-:^ ^^^^ ^■... ■: _,^

78 JBUtarjf qf Singham.

Below the surface having veins of Calcite. Specimens may be
seen in the Geological Collection of the Public Library. One of
them is a good example of vein structure. The rock is a decom-
posed Diabase. Calcite is also found as pebbles in the Conglom-
erate rock of Huit^s Cove.

Limonite (Bog Iron Ore), which has been dug up in consider-
able masses from the low land of Mr. Francis W. Brewer, near
Great Hill. Specimens of this may be seen in the collection of
the Public Library.

It may be confidently stated that there are no indications of
mineral deposits in any part of the town that would justify
exploration.

80 Higtarg of Bingham.

band, without the sheltering protection of the headlands of the
harbor on the east, the common clam, which has been of inesti-
mable value alike to savage and civilized man, would have been
comparatively unknown. This and other species of the lower
forms of life will be more particularlj referred to after mention-
ing some <rf the higher that are or have been known in the
lii^bor.

Animals living in the water will first be mentioned.

MAMMALS.

Perhaps it may surprise many who read these pages to learn
that among the visitors to the harbor which have within quite
recent periods entered it, may be included at least three species
of the highly organized type of the mammalia, and particularly
to be informed that one of these was of that family now so rarely
seen west of Cape Cod, the Whale. Yet not many years since,
within the memory of the living, one of these huge monsters of
the deep, after amusing himself for a day or two just outside the
boundary limits of the town, and around Bunkin Island, actually
proceeded to enter and to pursue his way up the circuitous chan-
neL No sooner was this observed than a body of hardy citizens,
duly prepared for encounter and inspii*cd by a love of adventure,
possibly by a desire for spoil, boldly but cautiously, as may well
be surmised, ventured to go down the channel and approach him.
Appreciating intuitively, no doubt, if he did not fully undcratand,
the maxim of Shakspeare ^^ that the better part of valor is dis-
cretion," the whale quietly turned and went to sea.

Another species of the mammalia and one quite common in
Massachusetts Bay, the Porpoise, used formerly to frequently
enter the harbor and sport in its waters. The effect of steam
navigation has led to such visitations becoming rare. The writer
has seen from the Hingham steamboat, some fifty years since, on
the passage to Boston, a great number of these animals crossing
and recrossing before the bows of the vessel, apparently in sport,
and this pastime was continued for a considerable time.

The third and last of the three marine mammals referred to as
entering our harbor is the Seal, an animal of such highly sensitive
organism and superior intelligence as to call for particular notice,
especially as many reside with us during all but the severe winter
months. They are observed witli great interest by the thousands
of passengers who pass in the steamers through the islands of the
town, resting upon the rocky shores in full confidence that they
will not be harmed. When unmolested they will repose them-
selves not far distant from man, and will not move except upon
his quite near approach.

Taken in captivity they become, like a dog, quite attached to
those about them, and will not willingly be parted from them.

1 JVblit M Ani ma l L^k 81

Kept 08 pets for a time, indiiddiials bave beeome eo fiond of pei^
sons about tbem at to manifeet great uneeiiiieee upon being i^
stored to tbeir native elemoiti and bave been known to woik
themselves over a considerable tor&oe of land in wder to i^
join their captora. A vessel on which waa a captured joong aeal
has been known to be followed a great ^Uatanoe \tf the uantie
i mother, su£fering from the loss of her offspring. Study, animala

} with affection and sensibility qnite equalling man's, and bavinjjf

k the great intelligence which ttiqr are known to possess, marife

'] and should receive all the protection which baa been accorded

j to those of thdr number who have trusted themsdves *to the

hospitidity of the ndgbboriiood. •

FISHBS.

The fishes of Massachusetts Bav have been admiraUj described
and beautifully illustrated by Dr.D. Humphreys 8torermhia^ffiai>
toiy of the Fishes of If assaehusetta." It is reasonable to auppoaa
that individuals of very many of the meclea sometimes entc^ the
harbor. Indeed one cl the dtiiens, l£r« Chariea B. Bamea, irtio
has fished In its waters aa much peihapa aa any one living, and
the accuracy of whose observationa can be rdied upon, baa reoog^
nized a very larpe number of fish that have been canriit by bim
and others withm the limits of Hingham throu|^ the macriptiona
given in that work.

A few words concerning the Smelt, thatihe future inhabitania
of the town may know how sreatly their predecessora were blessed
by the abuudance of this ddicious fish. The number candit by
hook and line in the harbor is venr huge, supplying the tables of
most of the inhabitants in the &U months, ana fumiaUng great
quantities for the Boston market During the right season numeiw
ous boats are always to be seen with parties engaged in fiAi«fc
while on the wharf margins, rows of men andboya may be oS^
served intent upon drawing in ibe coveted prcgr. No idea can faa
given of the number taken during a season.

MOLLnSK&

The MoUusks of the harbor are few in spedes, but fortunately
for the town, the most highly prized member of them all, the
Common Clam (ifya arenaria^ L), is exceedingly abundant Tlieffa
can be no doubt, judging by the clam-shell heaps near the shores^
that this species contributed largely towards the sustenance of flie
Indian when he alone occupied the territory ; and if in the present
period it is not so absolutely necessary to sustain the life, of the
white man, it yet affords a luxurious repast for his table, and fur-
nishes the material for hundreds of clam-bakes for the summer
parties that daily visit the watering places. The nnmber taken along

• TOI»I.— 6

,t^^M^tmiisattimmJitdsaam

82 Hisiarjf qf Hingham.

the beaches of our coast, including those of the islands, is enor-
mous, and has been estimated at upward of a thousand bushels
during a season.

The Bazor Fish is mentioned because of its great rarity and the
likelihood of its not being much longer found within the harbor.
A fine specimen discovered near the shore was receutlj presejited
to the writer by Mr- F. W. Brewer.

One other species will be mentioned because formerly found
along the shores, although now no longer so, having become ex-
tinct within the territory of the town. This is the Scallop Shell
{Peeten concentricus. Say.). The fact of the shells of this species
being objects of beauty has undoubtedly led to the animals being
taken wherever found by the clam-diggers, and as they have an-
nually turned over almost every foot of the muddy coast, the ex- '
termination of the scallop shell has followed.

CRUSTACEA.

The Crustacea of the harbor until within a few years included
tiie Lobster, but it is now doubtful if any are to be found within
its limits. The Common Crab, the Fiddler Crab, the Hermit
Crab, and the species known to all visitors to the shores as the
Horse Shoe are not uncommon. That most valuable bait for
smelt and other fish, the Shrimp, is found in the shallow pools.

•

To the above brief notes upon some of the forms of life observed
in the waters of the town a few will now be given upon species
found upon the land.

MAMMALS.

By the bones found in the peat-bogs of the town we know that
the Deer was an inhabitant in an early period. How late he
remained such is unknown. As where these animals exist Wolves
always hover about, it is fair to presume that they also found here
an abode. It is certain that Beaver were once numerous along
the streams, and there is no reason to doubt that the Bear like-
wise found a congenial home in the territory. These have prob-
ably passed away never to return. There are, however, some
wild species of the mammalia, that were common in more re-
cent years, and which after apparently l>ecoming extinct have
reappeared, sometimes in considerable numbers. Such has been
the case with the Raccoon. This animal, commonly called the
Coon, has at times suddenly manifested its presence in locali-
ties of the town by depredations where it had not been known for
many years.

In 1882 Mr. Jacob Corthell, on Leavitt Street, lost many chick-
ens undoubtedly by this animal, as about tlie same time four

Nairn Ml A m imu l Lffk 88

joung coons were treed by Us dog, and fhe parent sobaeqiieiitfy
shot Two of the young were kept a year after.

Mr. Charles B. Barnes, to whom fiie writer is indebted for nraeh
iuformation concerning wild animals of the land as well as of
fishes, says that when younghe trapped a coon in the woods
between Old Colony Hill and Weir Birer, and shot the mate in a
high tree near.

In the winter of 1885-86 coons appsAred in considerable nam*
bers, and many were killed, especialljr in Ifinj^iam Centre. One
was trapi)cd near the house dt the writer in the following spring.

Mr. Israel Whitcomb, who is a good observer, and mnci inter-
estcKl in tlie animal life of the town, states that raoeoons are
by no means so rare in tiie woods between Hinji^iam Centre and
Cohassct as generally supposed. He has known more than twenty
to be killed in a single season.

Foxes were quite numerous half a century ago. Large parties
of hunters with dogs were accustomed ones or twice a year to
scour the woods in the lower part of the .town and drive tiiem
toward and beyond Planters* Hill across the bar that eonneoto
World*s End with it, when, escape being cnt oflF, thej were leadilr
killed.

Mr. Francis W. Brewer informs the writer that in flie spring
of 1882 a fox had a hole in a meadow near his father's honsey la
which were its young.

There are yet undoubtedly many foxes liring in the woods of
the eastern and southern sections of the town.

The Mink, a pest of the poultry-yard, is unfortanately qnite com-
mon, and often manifests its destructive propensities to tibe great
annoyance of and considerable cost to the farmer. In the summer
of 1882 five bens were killed in one night in a hen-house on Mr.
John R. Brewer's estate, Martin's Lane, by minks, one of which
was trapped the following night, and another jshot a few days
afterwards.

Mr. Israel Whitcomb, of XJmon Street, also lost during a night
of the last season a considerable number of chickens by a ^itta*
tion of tliis atiimaL

The Weasel is another blood-thirsty visitor of the poultry-yard,
but is comparatively much moi*e rare than the Mink.

The Otter, now extinct in the town, has not been so more than
half a century. Mr. Charles B. Barnes remembers one that years ago
frequented the swamp, not far from his home on Summer Street
during a season, and he has known of others bdng seen in
Hingham.

f»

.^■■IfciAUk

84 Hi$iarjf qf Hingkauu

The Musk-Bat is yet common in the town, and ia found alonr
slow-running atreams. Many are yearly trapped in the vicinity <tt
'^ * Biver.

Babbits are yet frequently met with in the wooded parts of the
town, but are less numerous than formerly.

Of the squirrel tribe the little striped one known as the Chip-
munk, and the Bed Squirrel are very common, the former
sometimes being so numerous as to become troublesome. One
season, when exceedingly abundant on die farm of the writer,
they acquired the habit of burrowing holes in ripe fruit such as
melons and pears, to obtain the seeds.

The Bed Squirrel is often quite mischievous. Mr. F. W. Brewer
mentions that one caused constant vexation during a whole sea-
son to a lar^e Newfoundland dog, by descending from trees at
eveiy favorable opportunity, and stealing his food. Like the gray
squirrel, the red will sometimes rob birds' nests of the eggs and
the young.

The Gray Squirrel is often seen in the autumn months grace-
fully floating, as it were, from tree to tree as he passes through
the forest

The little Flying Squirrel probably yet exists in Hingham^
though none have been reported as seen for several years.

BIBDS.

Of birds nothing will be said respecting thosQ that are well
known, and usually during a part of the year find a home in the
town. Upon some species formerly abundant and now but occa-
sionally seen, and upon the visitation of others rarely found in
the region, a few remarks may be interesting.

It is but a few years since there existed in the woods of the
low, swampy ground between Old Colony Hill and Weir River an
extensive heronry. When first known to the writer the nests of
the birds might be seen upon almost every tall tree, high in the
air over acres of ground. The species was the Night Heron.

When the forest was cut through that Rockland Street might
be laid out, the colony that had perhaps existed there for hun-
dreds of years was disturbed, but not broken up. Attachment to
the locality, notwithstanding its exposure to increasing annoyance
from gunners and others, kept the birds there for years after, but
they finally departed in a body and were seen no more. There
are undoubtedly some inhabiting the to^Ti, as they are heard
uttering the peculiar sound that has led to the common name
given them of Qua-birds, when flying at the approach of night
towards the shores to obtain their accustomed food.

Of several species of birds now becoming more and more rare,
Mr. F. W. Brewer has expressed much in a communication to the

iVbiM am AiUmal L^k 86

writer which is of interest He states that flie Great Bhia Heron
used formerly to visit the flats of the harbor, but tliat be has not
eeen one for several years, and that the Oreen Heron, which iras
often observed there, now appears bat seldonL He further stated
that this last mentioned bird used to nest in Jacob Load's woods,
and that in 1888 a nest was found back of Mr. Keeshan^s hoose
near the foot of Pear-tree hilL

After a violent and long-continued northeast storm hi tlie spring
of 1872 a considerable number of Little Auks were driven iqpon
the coast by the severity of the gale. All of them seemed ex-
hausted, and they could easily be knocked down with a stick.

Mr. W. S. Brewer saw them singly and in small flocks of ftvn
or six. Several were picked up at different localities dead or in a
dying condition. The same ^ntleman saw two at the edge of the
water on Nantasket Beach m 1886, and procured one of them.
Thus it appears that this interesting bira may be expected to
appear at times on our shores after severe gales from the ocean.

The Wild Pigeon, formeriy a viutor ui large flocks, is now eel*
dom seen. A pair came into the hen^rd on Mr. J. B. Brewei^a
farm about four years ago, and not ur from that time a small
number were seen upon a tzee on Summer Street

The Carolina Pi^n, or TurUe-Dove, is rarely met wifli in
Massachusetts, but it has been seen in Hingham at least twice
within two or three years, once by Mr. Israel Whttcomb in the
southern part of the town, and once by Mr. W. S. Brewer, near
Martin's Lane.

As in the case of the Turtle-Dove, the Indigo Bird, though ex-
ceedingly rare, has been seen within a year or two both bj Mr.
Israel Whitcomb in the southern part of the town, and by Mr.
W. & Brewer at Martin's WelL

The last bird to be noticed is the Scarlet Tanager. Though
rarely seen, this very beautiful species unquestionably nests and
breeds every year in Hingham. Choosing generally its abode in
some deep forest away from the habitations of man, it is but
seldom exposed to observation, as its shyness makes it cautious
when visitors approach its precincts. Tliere is exception to this
when the young first leave the nest. The male tiien seems to
lose all fear for himself in his solicitude to protect and to supj^ly
food for the young, which he does with the utmost assiduity. On
this point the writer will quote some remarks from Nuttall, tiie
celebrated ornithologist: —

^^ So attached to liis new interesting brood is the Scarlet Tana-
ger that lie has been known at all hazards to follow for half a

ff I

^^ltMiili^^tmiiimm^mMim,mdSi

86 History of Hingkam.

mile one of lus young, submitting to feed it attentively throu^
the bars of a cage, and with a devotion which despair could not
damp, roost'by it in the branches of the same tree with its prison.
So strong, indeed, is this innate and heroic feeling that life itself
is less cherished than the desire of aiding and supporting his
endearing progeny."

As most of our birds are known to suffer intensely in being
deprived of their young, it would seem tliat the recital of such a
case as that given should lead to a feeling of more interest llian
is always manifested in protecting our native species from cruel
molestation*

It is pleasant to add that in the instance mentioned, of the

Joung Tanager followed and tended by the courageous ]>arent« the
eart of the person having it in charge was so moved by the ex-
hibition of parental devotion, that the cage was opened after four
days, and llie young set free. Happily reunited, parent and off-
spring flew into the deep woods.

The Tanager in some rare instances has been known to build
its nest near the residence of man, when this lias stood near the
border of a forest.

The body of the male is scarlet-red, and the wings and tail are
black in the pairing season. In the autumn he becomes, like the
female and young, of a dull green color.

The Tanager is but for a short time a resident in the North,
arriving about the middle of May, and leaving for his tropical
home very early in August

THE BOTANY OF HINGHAM.

BY THOMAS T. BOUVt

PRELIMINARY REMARK&

In presenting to the public an account of the plants of Hing^
ham, the writer desires to express his great indebtedness to sev-
eral persons, without whose aid the work of collecting specimens
and identifying them could not have been accomplished in the
short time allowed for its completion. Especially would be state
that without the active co-operation of his esteemed friend Mr.
Charles J. Sprague, many plants of our flora would undoubtedly
have remained unknown, and certainly no attempt would have been
made to include the Grasses or the Carices in Uie list of species.
He gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the Misses Ellen
and Isabel Lincoln, by whose zeal and intelligent assistance a
considerable number of the plants enumerated were discovered
within the town limits, and to Mr. Fearing Burr, Mr. I. Wilbur
Lincoln, and Mr. Henry C. Gushing also for valuable aid.

It is to be regretted that the botanists of Hingham whose inves-
tigations preceded those of the writer, Mr. James S. Lewis, Mr.
Fearing Burr, and others^ did not prepare and preserve herbaria
for their own study, and for the service of those who should follow
them. The Rev. John Lewis Russell was the only one who
appears to have preserved the plants he obtained ; but he made
such disposal of his collections, to different parties in distant
places, as to make it practically impossible to examine more than
a very few of the specimens found by him in Hingham*

The list of plants as presented includes but very few that have
not been collected by the writer, or by those referred to who have
aided him. Those that have not come under his own eye and
study have been admitted on the high authority of the Rev. Mr.
Russell and Mr. Fearing Burr. Plants found in the immediate
neighboring towns, even but a few feet from the boundary line,
but not within it, have been rigorously excluded.

Some reasons why many plants occurring in not far distant
localities find no home in Hingham, may be of interest to the
reader. Its climatic conditions, compared with those of other
towns, particularly those of the North Shore, will account for this
in a great degree. Gape Ann has the influence of the cold ocean
currents between the Gulf Stream and the land. Hingham, being

ai^MMitfikAMMtt

88 Hiitarff qf Himgham.

situated sooth of a shallow land-locked bay, loses this inflaence
and has that of the prevalent summer southwest winds which
come from the Gulf Stream. Although possessing a considerable
sea margin on the north, it has no sand beaches, and therefore
scTeral of the peculiar plants of the ocean beaches do not occur
upon its shores. These are stony, or have marsh grasses growing
to the water's edge. Its ponds, exceptine Accord Pond upon which
it only partially borders, are all artificial, formed by damming its
streams/and are lined with trees and thickets extending to the
water, leaving no sandy margins like those of the Plymouth and
Weymouth ponds, which afford a home for numerous plants not
to be found in Hingham. A large proportion of the town's area
has been cultivated for centuries and there remain few localities
which have been undisturbed by the hands of man.

It may be asked how thoroughly the task of presenting a
full account of the flowering plants of the town has been ac-
complished, and it will gratify all interested in the subject to
be assured that, though it cannot be asserted that every spe-
cies growiuff within our borders is included in the list given,
yet it may fairly be stated that the omissions can be but few.
It embraces not only the trees, the shrubs, and the flowering
herbs, including the Grasses and Carices, but also the Equi-*
setaces (Horsetail Family), the Filices (Ferns), and the Ly-
copodiacesB (Club-moss Family). The Lichens, the Fungi, and
other Cryptogamous forms have been necessarily omitted, as they
could not have been presented without additional years of inves-
tigation by specialists.

In regions where glacial action has not led to a general mixing
of the earth derived from various geological formations, and where
that from the decayed rocks has been but little disturbed, it is
always interesting to note the influence of the several soils upon
the growth of species. This is so marked as to enable the
student often to recognize the character of the geological forma-
tions l)eneath the surface by the prevalence of certain trees. This
of course is not the case in Hingham, yet there is much in the
▼arj'ing character of locations within its limits to influence
greatly the kind of species which will find in them healthy devel-
opment. Some are found only in salt marshes, others only in
fresh-water swamps and meadows; some only in dry, sandy, or
gravelly localities, others only in rich soils. A large majority
open their petals only in sunny exposures, whereas many expand
their beauties only under the shade of trees or of sheltering rocks.
That nature thus varies her gifts of beauty adds much to the
charm of botanical research in Hingham, diversified as its sur-
face is with hills and dales, with marshes and swamps, with ex-
tensive woods and rocky elevations ; for who can wander over its
high lands and its low lands, along its water-courses, and into the
romantic recesses of its forest glens, without l)eing impressed by,
and gladdened with, the beauty spread before him everywhere t

I%0 Babmg qf ESmgikmL 89

There are some spedet that, wifhout any apparent leaaon, ar^
limited to certain localities, rarely beinff found daewhere, not-
withstanding drcumatancesaeem eqnallf lavoraUe for timr derd-
opment As among these are several of exceeding beauty and
iheir extermination in tiie town would certunly be a calamUj,
the writer cannot forbear calling attention to the foot that some
are fast disappearing, and will soon be no longer found in the
town unless care is taken for their nresenration. One of these
is that rare plant, bearing one ci uie most lovdy of flowerSy
the Fringed Gentian. Unlike the common Blue Gentian, this
delicate species is propagated onljr by seeds. What, tiien, must
be the result of a genial plucking of the flowers when tbef
areinbloom,leayingnoue to mature r Only extermination. And
such plucking has been often done, and bouquets exhibited oontain*
ing scores of these flowers, When far better taste wodd have been
shown had but few been placed together instead of a nudtitode.
Animals are not alone in danger of extermination by thoughtless-
ness. The tendency to take planta fiN>m tiidr natural bdiitats
and transplant them into gardens where drcumstances have been
less farorable for their existence, has undoubtedly led to tiie entire
destruction of severd species of perennisls from our flora. One
of these, the Ascl^ioi tulero9a^ has doubtiess met sudi fota. lliia
plant, one of the most beautiful of all the pereniuala that adorned
the woods, and dways rare, there is reason to bdieve is now ex^
tinct except in cultivation, as no specimen has been discovered far
severd years, after diligent searcn. It is however given in flie
list of species, as it certdnir grew in at least two locsKties, and
may possibly yet exist. Furtiiermore there is one plant affll
living which was transplanted more than twenty years aco from
the woods of South Hingham to the grounds now of llr. Heniy OL
Gushing, where it yet may be seen yearly dbplaying a ridi piro*
fusion of its most charming orange-flowera.

There are severd other plants that are found in but <me or two
localities, which it is hoped may be dlowed to remain members
of the flora. One of these is the SamhueuM raeefko$a^ L^ the Red-
Berried Elder. Another exceedingly rare plant with us is tiie
HihiicuB Mo9cheuto8j L. (Swamp Kose Mallow.) This is a taU
perennid, with quite large, showy, rose-colored flowers, tiie corolla
being five inches in diameter. It is found near the sdt water, and
but a single plant is known in Hingham.

Yet another species may be mentioned as observed in only one
locality. This is the Lythrum Salieariay L. The beautifd purple
flowers of this may be seen upon a clump of the plants just at tbB
edge of the water of Weir ]Uver« a short distance bdow the bridge
on Leavitt Street.

It is not only for the preservation of the exceedingly rare planta
of the town tiiat the writer would plead. Quite as eamestiy
would he urge that the transcendent beautv which is often pre-
sented along the sides of our roads, espedally of those bordered

liBMlkidHMMM*Ml

90 BiMtorjf qf Bingham.

by foresi-growih, may be allowed to display itself and gladden
the eyes and heart of the wayfarer. Yearly many of these roads
are adorned with flowers of varied hue, charming to every be-
holder. In the spring the modest Violet, the delicate Anemone,
and the showy Buttercup open their petals to the sight As the
summer ^ sun shoots f uU perfection through the swelling year/'
the Wild Bose, the Eglantine (Sweet brier), the Common Elder,
and many other species display their loveliness and exhale their
fragrance. Then follows autumn, and everywhere there start up
to beautify our highways the many Asters and Golden-rods, and
it is just when these expand in gorgeous loveliness, outrivalling all
that man can produce by the most consummate art, that the de-^
stroyer comes and sweeps them away in a day. Tlie writer cannot
too strongly express his regret at the custom of mowing down
every plant that shows a flower through miles of highway, where
this is by no means necessary.

A gentleman of much culture and taste, who had but recently
visited and travelled extensively over England, remarked in con-
versation : ^ j^ii^<^<l when abroad for the sight of wild flowers along
the roads. The bordering grass-plots smoothly shorn to the
hedge-rows became monotonous. I longed for tlie picturesque
objects that everywhere attract attention here and which serve -
so much to interest the mind." The year before this was said,
the writer had passed through the Third Division wood-road,
where was displayed along its borders a profusion of fall flowers,
making the view at many points simply exquisite. Delighted
with the prospect of presenting to his friend a scene so in contrast
with those mentioned, he was taken through the same road that
had been spangled with beauty the previous season, with the hope
that there might be a like display, but it was too late. The scythe
had done its vandal work, and scarcely a flower was left to meet
his eye. There is no desire to criticise in these remarks the work
necessarily done for the convenience of wayfarers, whether on
foot or in vehicles, but only to urge that what no jxirson of taste
would wish to have destroyed may be allowed to live. In the
case referred to it is doubtful if ten persons could be found in the
town who really would regard tlie devastation an improvement.
Man should not ruthlessly destroy what has been given for his
pleasure and refinement.

In the following list of plants native to or occurring in Hing-
ham, the names have been given in accordance with the recent
edition of Gray*s Manual, 1890. There have been numerous
changes since the previous edition of 1848, and the student will
tlierefore find this harmony with the last edition of great service
to him in the identification of species.

The names of the introduced species are printed in italics, that
they may be thus readily distinguished from those indigenous to
the town.

PHiENOGAMOUS OR FLOWERING PLANTa

POLYPETALOUS EXOGENS.

1. RANUNCULACEiB. (CROWFOOT

The Ranunculaceao are mostly natives of cool regions, few
being found within the tropics, and these generally in elevated
situations.

The leaves are much divided, hence the popular name of crow-
foot applied to some of the species. Flowers both regular and
irregular, — some exhibiting remarkable forms, as those of the
wild Columbine.

Our flora is greatly enriched by plants of this family, and the
fields and groves owe much of their beauty to them. Among
those most common are the Buttercups, spangling the grass with
their golden petals ; the Marsh Marigold of the swamps and wet
meadows ; the Clematis, or Virgin's Bower, gracefully climbing
over bushes in shady thickets, displaying in profusion its beau-
tiful cymes of flowers; the Wood Anemone, with its delicate
white petals, often tinged with purple; and the showy wild
Columbine, delighting by its varied hues^the visitor to its rocky
recesses.

Tlie Peony, so commonly cultivated in the gardens, belongs
to this family.

Most of the species contain a very acrid juice, rendering them
highly injurious as food, in a fresh state. Fortunately, heat and
dryness deprive the plants of their poisonous character ; otherwise
the cattle would suffer from its effects in partaking of hay from
the pastures. Cooked or dried the species of this town are harm-
less. There are genera, however, having exceedingly poisonous
properties, — such as the Hellcborus, the Aconitum, and the Del-
phinium. As species of these are common in gardens under
the names Monkshood, Wolfsbane, Larkspur, and Hellebore, care
should be taken that children do not carry the flowers in their
mouths.

Clematis, L.

Virglniana, L. Virgin** Bower.

Anemone, Toam.

cyliDdrica, Gray. LoDg-firuited Anemone.
VirgiDianE, L. Virginian Anemone,
nemorosa, L. Wind-flower. Wood Anemone.

iMUlMiiilliMM^MttkttiliiiltfteaAiaaMtfiMi^^

92 HiMiarjf qf BinghaaL

Hepatiemp DiIL

triloba, Cludx. Boond-Iobed HepadoL

AnemoneUa, Spsdi.

Uialictroides, Spach. Rue Anemone,

Thalietmm, Toarn.

dioicum, L. Earij MeadowHrue.
purpuraaoensy L. Pnrplish Meadow-roe.
poljgamiun, MuhL Tall Meadow-me.

Sammcnlnsy Tonnu

aquatilisy L. vttr. tridiopbjlliU| Gray. White Water-crowfoot

Cymbalaria, Purab. Seaside Crowfoot.

abortiTos, L. Small-flowered Crowfoot.

abortivus, L. var, micrantbnSy Gray.

•oeleratoa, h. Corsed Crowfoot.

PennsjlvanicnSy L. L Bristliug Crowfoot.

fiiscicolaris, MabL Earlj Crowfoot.

repena, L. Creeping Crowfoot.

Mbosui^ L. Bulbous Battercop.

acrii, L. Tall Battercap.

Fiearia, I^

Caltlia,L.

palustris, L. Marsh Marigold.

trilblia, Salisb. Goldthread.

Aqnilegifty Tonrn.

Canadensis, L. Colombine.

Actea, L.

alba, BigeL White Banebeny.

2. BERBERIDACIL2B. (BaRBEBRT FaHILT.)

The only plant of this order found within the borders of Hing-
ham is the well known beautiful shrub, the Barberry, introduc^
from Europe. Tlie stamens of the flowers are peculiarly sensi-
tive, springing back against the pistil on being lightly touched.
The fruit is extensively used as a preserve, and boiled with sugar
produces an excellent jelly.

Berberis, L.

vulgarUf L. Barberry.

a NYMFH2IACE2B. (WaTER-LILT FaMILT.)

An aquatic order, one species of which is the beautiful and
sweet-scented Water-lily of our ponds.

Brasenia, Sdireb.

peltata, Porsh. Water-shield.

VymphflBS, Tonrn.

odorata, Ait. Water-lfly.

JInphar, Smith.

advena, Ait f. Yellow Water-lfly.

I%0 Batamif qf Bmgkam^ 9t

4. SARRACBHIACHJHL (PlTCHKB«LAIIT FiJOLT.)

The only ffinj^iam Bpedes is the SB de saddl e Flower. Tbe
leaves are singularlj formed m a swoUen tube and are generallj
more or less mled with water, containing drowned insects.

Sarraeenia, Toorn.

pmpoxea, LJ Fiteher-flanL

5. PAP AVBRAOBJBL (POPFT FaMILT.)

Three species only are found in this town, and but one of tliese
is indigenous, — the beanofnl Blood-root, so called ttwa the color
of its juice. This, if taken into the stoniach, acts as an emdle
and a purgative. The juice of some of the spedes has hiddj
narcotic properties, — that of die Fiapaver somnlfsmmy dziea u
the suu, forming the 0|ttum of commerce.

Argenionei L.

Mexieana^JL PridUyFoppj. Watte plaoM. BaNb
Ghelidoninm, L.

auy t», JL Oebndins.

Sangninaria, DilL

Canadensis, L. Bloodmoti

e. FuiffARXACBJEL (FoimoBr Faiolt.)

An order contuning manj beautiful plants whidi have a
waterj juice. The flowers are irrq^ular. But two spedes axe
found in Hingham.

CorydaliSi Vent

glaaca, Porsh. Fde Corjdalit.

Fomariay Toum.

offieinaUi^JL Fumiloiy.

7. CRUCSZFBRJBL (MUSIIBD FiJOLT.)

An exceedingly useful family to man, furnishing many of the
vegetables which he uses for food or as condiments, such as
Turnips, Cabbages, Radishes, Cauliflowers, Cress, and Mustard.
They all contain nitrogen, hence their hi^y nutritious qualities.
Many . of them have also an essential oil containing sulphur*
Though acrid and pungent to the taste, none of tiiem are poS-
sonbus. Plants of this family are easily recognized by tneir
having four petals, which are regular and placed opposite to each
other in pairs, forming a cross. This has given them tiie name
of Cruciferad.

B'astartinm, B. Br.

offictnak, X. Br. Water-cresa
palastre, D C Marsh-cress. '
Armoraeiti^ Fn€$^ Horse-radish.

Cardamine, Toum.

hirsata, L. Bitter Cress.
hirsuta, oar. sylvatica, 6n^.

t^iiltefifalMlttHaAM^

. >

94 History qf HinghauL

Anlni, L.

till L. Sickle-pod.

Barbarea, R. Br.

vulgaris, R. Br. Winter Cren.

Sisymbrium, Tonnu

officinale^ Seop. Hedge Mastard.

Brassica, Toani.

mgra, Koch. Black Mostard.
eampeUrii^ L, Ratabaga.

Gapsella, Medic

Bursa-pastoris^ Maneh* Shepberd*s Pone.

Thlaipi, Toam.

arvense^ L, Field Penoj Cress. Rare.

Lepidinm, TonriL

Virginicom, L. Peppergran.

ruderak^ JL

campestre^ JL Field Pepper Grass. Rare.

Gakila, Toum.

AmericaDai Nott. Sea-Rocket.

Bapkanusy Team.

Raphaniitram^ Im Wild

a CI8TACXLS. (RocE-RosE Famtlt.)

Low, shrubby plants with regular flowers, possessed of no
marked properties.

Eelianthemnm, Team.

CauadeDse, Mx. Rock-rose. Frost Weed.

Lechea, Kalm.

major, L. Pin Weed.

tbjmifolia, Mx.

minor, L.

minor, L., var, maritima, Gray in herb.

tennifolia, Mx.

9. viOLACEiC. (Violet Family.)

A family well known by the profusion of flowers of several
species found everywhere within the town. Only one genus is
represented in Hingham, — the Viola. All its s]jecies here are
stcmlcss, with a single exception. The Pansy and the great
Purple Violet of the gardens belong to this order. The roots
generally possess an acrid, sometimes an emetic property, which
has led to their use in medicine.

Viola, Toum.

lanceolata, H Lancc-leaved Violet.

primnlaefolia, L. Primrose-leaved Violet.

blanda, Willd. Sweet White Violet.

palmata, L. Common Blue Violet.

palmata, L., var. cucullata, Gray. Rolled-leafed Violet

sagittata,.AiL Arrow-lt-aved Violet.

The Bobm§ qf HmglkmL K

pedau,L. Bird-fiMt TidbC.

CAoioay L., var. ]Iulikmbei|^i» Gnj. Dog TiokC.

• • •

10. CARTOPHTTiTi4CH«, (FlKK FaIOLT.)

Herbs with entire, opposite leaTes, exeept that the umn onm
are sometimes alternate, and with n^lar, sjmmetrieal flowers.
The stems are asuallj swollen at the joints. Thcjjr are all harm-
less in their propertiea.

IKanthnSy L.

ArmeriOf X. Deplfiord Pliik.
dehaidei^ JL Maiden Fink.

8aponaria» L.

offietnaliSf L. Soapwort.

Silene, L.

cucuhalttt^ Wibd. Bladder fi»w*|?»t?ii.

Armeritu L. SweeuWillian CbtoMly;

sntirrbiua, L. Sleepj Oateh^lj.

nocUJlora^ JU NighMowerii^ OstQli4|j; *

Lyelmis, Team.

vttpertina, SihiL Bara.

GithagOf Lam. Com Cooide. Bars.

Arenaria, L.

MerpyiUfoUa, JL Thjme-leaved Sandwort
lateriflora, L.

Stellaria, L.

mediOf SmitL Chidcwead.
loii^ifolta, MahL LongJeaved GUAweed.
uligiDosa, Mnrr. Swamp Chickweed.
gramintOi L.

Cerastinm, L.

vulgatumy L. Mouse-ear Chickweed.
arvense, L.

Sagina, L.

procumbens, L. Pearlwort.
Bnda, Adans.

rubra, Dumort. Sandwort

marina, Dumort. Sea-sbore Sandwort
Spergnla, L.

arvensis, L. Com Sporrej.
Oypsophila, L.

murali$, JL,

11. PORTULACACEJEL (PURSLANE FaMILT.)

Succulent low herbs with regular but unsrmmetrical flowers.
The Claytonia, justly called the Spring Beauty, belongs to this
family. The common Purslane is our only species, and thia
springs up abundantly in cultivated and waste grounds. It does
not appear to be generally known as a very palatable food. Cooked

«i

96 Hiitarg qf Himghamu '

as ^ greens,** and properly served, it vies with the best in furnish-
ing an attractive dish. The plants should not be too old. None
of the species are harmfuL The beautiful Portulaca of the gar*
dens is of this Family.

Portnlaeay Toam.

oleraemif 'JL Common Punhme.

12. HYFZlRICACILa. (St. JoHN*&-WoRT FaMILT.)

The plants of this family are all herbs in Hingham, though
found as shrubs and even trees in oilier re^ons. They have
opposite, dotted leaves, and an astringent, resinous jmce, which in
some species is very acrid, as in the H. perforatum. This is some-
times used as a gargle, and internally in dysenteric cases.

E jperidua, Toam*
ellipticam, Hook.
perforaiMMf £• St. John's-wort.
mscnlaUim, Wslt.
matilam, L.
Osnsflftnitfti Ij.
nadicaule» Wslt.

Elodes, Adsnt.

campaDolats, Pnrsh. MsrBh St JobnVwort.

13. BiALVACXLZB. (MaLLOWS FaMILT.)

The plants of this family native within the town are all
herbs. Elsewhere they are foimd as shrubs, and sometimes as
trees. They form a very natural order. The species all have
regular flowers and alternate leaves, and all abound in a muci-
laginous substance, which is found in great quantity, particularly
in the roots of many. This is much used in medicine as an
emollient.

None of the plants have deleterious properties. The young
foliage of some has been used to boil as a vegetable.

Cultivated species of several of the genera are seen in gar-
dens ; as the Althea and Hollyhock.

Xalva, L.

ratundifoliti^ L, Mallow.

Abntilonf Toam.

AvicenntBy GitrtfL Velvet Lea£ Rare.

Hibiscus, L.

Moficheatos, L. Swamp Rose-Mallow. Very rare.

14. TILIACILSL (LiNDEN FaMILT.)

Trees and shrubs, mostly natives of tropical regions. Like
the Malvace®, they all possess mucilaginous properties of whole*
some character. .

Tke BaUmg qf ESm/ktmL 97

The Tilia Americana, the weU-known Unden or Bais-wood,

is native of the town, being generaUj foond near the ahore. Tlie
species of this family eomoMinly set cot as an ornamental trea^
is the European Linden.

The inner bark of tlie trees of this famfly ia rwj fibrona and
strong. The jute of commeroe ia the prodnet of one apedea.

Tilia, Tourn.

Americaoa, L. Linden. Baaswood.

15. UHACBJEL (FLAZ FaIOLT.)

An order of mostly herbaceous plants wifli regular and lyni*
metrical flowers. The genus Linum, the only one represented
in Hingham, has a bark of exoeediiu^lj tenadooa fibre, from one
species of which is formed the Linen Thread and Cloth in common
use. The same jplant also furnishes seeds which yield the well*
known Linseed Oil, Linseed Cake, etc. The seeds are used ex-
tcnsively in medicine, possessing as they do abundant mndlag&
which is extracted by boiling water, nrodncing thus Flax-SMd
tea. There are several other uses wnich the prodneta of the
plants serve, and it may perhaps be said that no one, not fni^
nishing food, is more serviceable to man. There ia but one
species of the genus indigenous in our limits, the L. Virginiannm.
The other is the Common Flax, found sometimes springing op in
fields from scattered seeds. Some speciea are mildly cathartic.

Linnni, Toarn.

VirgiDiaDum, L. Wild Flax.
utitatissimumf JL Flax. Not comnien.

le. OERANIACILS. (GERANIUM FaMILT.)

Chiefly herbs, with perfect but not always symmetrical flowers.
The beauty of our gardens is largely due to plants of this family ;
especially to the species of Pelargonium introduced fiN>m the
Cape of Good Hope, where they are native, and to hybrid
varieties.

The plants generally have an astringent property, and many
have a disagreeable odor. The Herb Robert, not uncommon with
us, affords a marked instance of this. There are, however,
species which give out an aromatic and agreeable fragrance.

Some plants of the order have edible tubers, and others have
leaves which are used as food, being pleasantly acid.

The G. maculatum, common in every part of the town, has
very astringent roots. An infusion of them is used as a gargle.

Geranium, Toarn.

maculatum, L. Wild Geranium.
CaroliniaDum, L. Carolina Geranium.
Robertianum, L. Herb Roliert.

TOL. I.— 7

ff «

UhiftriiiilMMJiiHttMfei

98 ' History of Hingham.

Impatieniy L.

fiilva, Nott. Toodi-iiie-noL

Qzalii, L.

cornicolata, L., var. stricU, Say. Wood-SorreL

17. iLiciNiua (Holly Family.)

Trees and shrubs. Interesting to ns as containing the Holly^
the Nemopanthcs, and the several species of Ilex, all contrib-
utors to the beauty of the forests and swamps. It is one
of the species of Ilex which displays, late in the autumn and
early winter a profusion of bright red berries, that never fail*
to attract the attention and admiration of beholders.

There is an astringent property in the bark and leaves of the
Holly, and of other species of Ilex. The berries are purgative,
and used medicinally.

Hex, L.

opaca. Ait Holly,
▼erticillata, Gray. Black Alder,
laevigata. Gray. Smooth Alder. Rare,
glabra, Gray. Iiikberry. Kot common.

Vemopantlies, Raf.

fasdcularis, Raf. ^lountain Holly. Fare.

18. CELASTRACE2EL (StaFF-TREE FaMILY.)

Shrubs, rarely trees. One Bpccies only known to our flora, —
the Cclastrus scandcns, or Waxwork.

The fruit of this, with its orange and scarlet hues, is very
attractive in autumn, as displayed among the foliage of the
shrubs or trees uix)n which it climbs.

The plants of this family have generally acrid and bitter prop-
erties, sometimes emetic

Celastmt, L.

scaDdens, L. Waxwork.

19. RHAMNACE2B. (BUCKTHORN FaMILY.)

Shrubs and small trees, represented in Hingham by the Rham-
nus catharticus, the Buckthorn, and by the Ccanothus Ameri-
canus, New-Jersey Tea.

The berries and bark of the Buckthorn are cathartic, and have
been used in medicine. Tlie leaves of the Ccanothus Araericanus
were much used during the American Revolution, by infusion, as
a tea ; hence the common name.

Ehamniii, Toum.

catharticoy L, Buckthorn. Not commoiL

Ceanothoi, L.

AmericanoB, L. New-Jersey Tea.

--••■/

1%« BotoMg <if Bm^kmu 99

20. vrr ACBJ& (Yixi Familt.)

Climbing slirabs, represented in ffindiam br two generfty —
Vitis, the Grape, and AmpdopeU, the Virginia Creeper or Wood-
bine. The estimable products of the vine are well known ; and«
alas ! the effects of misuse of them too modi so. The beanty of
the Ampelopsis, as it climbs upon trees within its reaeh, espe-
cially when its deepbr tinted leayes in autnmn contrast wilii um
dark-green foliage of the Savini affords a great charm to eveiy
observant eye.

^tiSyToan.

LabmsGa, L. Fox Gn^e.
estlTalia, Ms. Sammer Gnpe»

Ampeloptii, Bfx*.

quiDqaefolia, Hx. Viiginia CSreapsr. WcodbiMi

21. SAFINDAOBa. (IClPLB FaHILT.)

•

Trees, shrubs, and herbs. This order enriches our flora wilii
the Sugar Maple and the. Bed Maple. Among those introduoed
for ornamentsu purposes are the Horse Chestnuti seyersl spedea
of the Buckcj^e, and the Negundo or Ash4eaTed llaple.

Narcotic and poisonous properties are found in some of the
plants of the order ; yet bread is made from the seeds of one
species. The nuts of the common Horse Chestnut contain a
large proportion of starch, which renders them a very Tslnable
food for cattle, swine, sheep, and horses. They are thus used-
extensively abroad, while here they are allowed to rot upon the
ground. This is a matter worthy we consideration of those who
have these trees upon their premises.

It is stated that the fruit and leaves of the Buckeye of Ohio»
the jEsculus glabra, are quite poisonous. As this tree is found
in cultivation with us, care should be taken not to confound the
fruit with that of the common Horse Chestnut. '

The bark of several species is bitter and astrinsent, sometimes
used for tanning and dyeing, and also in medicme. as a substi-
tute for Peruvian bark.

Acer, ToorD.

sacchariDuiDy Wang. Sugar Maple,
rabrum, L. Bed Maple.

22. ANACARDIACXL2B. (SUM ACH FaMILT.)

Trees or shrubs, with alternate leaves and inconspicuous
flowers, having a resinous juice, which is acrid and sometimes
poisonous. Some bear wholesome fruits ; others furnish Tsluable
varnishes. We have in Hingham but one genus, — the Bhus.

faaMriMMKfeiiyHiHGittliltaih

100 History of Binghanu

This includes the species best known to us as poisonous. One
of them, Bhus venenata, or Poison Sumach, often called the
Poison Dogwood, is found in nearly all our swamps. It is poi-
sonous alike to the touch and taste, and at times imparts its
noxious qualities to the atmosphere about it so as to cause per-
sons inhaling it to be seriousl}^ affected. Common as tliis small
tree is in Hingham, but few recognize it readilj*, and as it
is particularly beautiful when colored by the tints of autumn, it is
often collected, much to the suffering of those who handle it. It
differs from the Rhus typhina and the Rhus glabra in having no
serratures on die leaflets.

Another species of the same genus common with us is the '
Rhus toxicodendron, known generally as the Poison Ivy. This
is also a very |)eniiciou8 plant to handle, though upon many per-
sons it seems to have no effect. Undoubtedly both the species
are more dangerous at times than at others, and something prob-
ably depends on the condition of the individual. Tliis is cer-
tainly true, and it should be a strong incentive for precaution
that when a person has once been poisoned, the system is ever
after more susceptible to the noxious influence than before.

BhiiB, L.

typhinm, L. Stag-horn Somach.
glabra, L. Smooth Samach.
copallioa, L. Dwarf Sumach,
veoeoata, D C. Poison Dogwood.
Toxicodendron, L. Poison Ivj.

23. POLTOALACEJB. (MILKWORT FaMILT.)

Herbaceous plants, one genus of which only occurs in Hing-
ham, — the Polygala. The name " milkwort " was given from
the sup]>osed influence of the plants in increasing the secretion
of milk in the animal system. The roots of several species are
used medicinally, and those of one, the P. Senega, are found very
serviceable in many affections. These are known to us as the
Senega root or Snake root.

Polygala, Team,
eanguiiiea, L.
cruciHta. L.
verticillata, L.

verticillata, var. ambigoa. NutL
ptilygaroa, Walt.

24. LEOUMINOSiB. (PULSE FaMILT.)

•

A very large family, six or seven thousand species being
known. It embraces trees, shrubs, and herbs. The most of the
plants have papilionaceous flowers, so called from their fancied re-
semblance to butterflies. All the native species found in Hing-

rfMMM^tfiUilte

The Botany of Hingham. 101

ham have such flowers, except those of the genus Cassia. The
fruit is always a legume or l^iie pod ; but it varies, — being sim-
ple, as in the Pea, or lobed, as in Desmodium. Within our bor-
ders this great family is represented only by herbs, except in one
introduced s|>ecies, which has become naturalized, — the Robinia
Pscudacacia, common Locust-tree.-

Other trees and shrubs of the family occur that have been set
out for ornamental purposes, as the Gleditchia or Three-thomed
Acacia, the Red-bud or Judas-tree, the Laburnum, Wistaria, etc

The Leguminusas stand high among the families of the vege-
table kingdom in their usefulness to man, furnishing as they do
much of the food used by him and his domestic animals, manj
of the resins, and a large portion of the dyes used in the arts.
Among food products are Peas, Beans, and Clover ; among medi-
cines, Liquorice, Senna, Balsams, and Gums ; among those used
in the arts, Gums Senegal, Tragacanth, and Arabic; Indigo,
Brazil-wood, Logwood, and Red Sandal-wood. But few of the
plants have injurious properties. The indigo of our households
is very poisonous. This is mentioned because of the danger of
its bein<r handled by children.

The leaves of our Cassia Marilandica can be used as a substi-
tute for senna, having similar properties.

Lupinns, Tourn.

perenDiB, L. Lupine.

Crotalaria, L.

sagittal is, L. Rattlcrbox. Not common.
Trifolium, Touni.

arvense^ L, Rabbit-foot Clover.

pratense^ L. Red Clover.

hyhridum^ L. Dutch Clover.

repens, L. White Clover.

agrariumy L. Yellow Clover.

procumbetiSj L. Low Hop Clover.
Melilotns, Toorn.

officinalis, WiUd. Yellow Melilot

alba, Lam. White MelOot.

Medicago, Tourn.

sativOy Im.

lupulitia, L. Black Medick.
Robinia, L.

pseudacacia, L. Locust.

Tephrosia, Pers.

VirgiDiana, Pers. Goat's Rue.
Desmodium, Desv.

Dudiflorum, D C

acuminatum, D C.

Canadense, DC

MarilaDdicum. Boott

rigidum, D C.

■>jMfc.»k.,=J^.-^te,^l^»^.-^:Ml,., ^^^^.U^^.^:^ .^ ^ .^ ,

102 Histonf of Hinghanu

Letpedeia, Ms.

procombeDi, Mx.

reticulata Pen. Bosh dover.

StQvei, Natt, var. iotermedia, Wataoo.

poljstadiyay Mx.

capitata, Mx.

Yieia^TonriL

foltmi, X. Vetch.
tetrasperma, LoistL
himUOf Koek.
Craccay Jj»

lafhynii, Toaro.

maritimiMy Big. Beach-pea.
pdustrity L. Manh-pea.

Apioi, Boerh.

taberosa, Mcench. GrouDd-nut.

Stroplioftylet, EIL

angolosa, EIL Eidnej Bean.

AmphicarpgBa, £11.

moDoica, Matt. Hog Pea-nat

Baptiiia, Vent.

tinctoria, R. Br. Wild Indigo.

Casfia, Toara.

Marilandica, L. Wild Senna.

Cbamaecrista, L. Partridge Pea.

nicitans, L. Wild Sensitive Plant
<•»

25. ROSACRS. (RoSE FiiflLT.)

This family, comprising trees, shrubs, and herbs, is an exceed-
ingly valuable one to man, supplying him as it docs with deli-
cious fruits, and with flowers that delight his eye with their
beauty and enchant him with their fragrance. Who can think
of the Rose, of the Meadow Sweet, and of the many other shrubs
and herbs that open their petals and exhale their fragrance to the
surrounding air; of the gorgeous blossoming of the Apple and
the Pear, the Cherry and the Plum, or of the fruits of these
which follow, in due season, without having his heart warmed
with gratitude towards the great Giver of all good ? These all
belong to this family, as do most of the berries we use for food,
as the Strawberry, the Blackberry, and the Raspberry.

But few plants of the order have injurious properties, though
some, as the Almond and the Peach, contain Prussic Acid, which
is a deadly poison. It is found mostly in the seeds, but not to
an injurious degree, as partaken of by us.

Pmniii, Toom.

maritima, Wang. Beach Plum.
PenDsylvanica, L. t Red Cherry.
Yirginiana, L. Choke Chenr.
serotina, Ehrhart. Black (Jherrj.
sphiosa^ L. rar. iusititiu, bloe. ' Bullace Plum*

Spinsftf

salicifbllAy L. Headow-tirait
tomentoeiy L. Hardhack.

Agrimonia,

Eupatoria, L. Afrimoaj*

albam, Crmdiii. A?eBi»

PotentUIa, L.

Norvegica, L. Flve-floaer.
Canadensia, L. Low Ftf^tngm,
ar^ntea, L. SOvanr FIve-Aiifar.
AuAerina, L. Ifanh Five-Aofar.

Tragariay Touni.

Virginiaua, HOL Strawbenj.
▼eica, Li

Xubna, Toorn.

•trigosot, Hx. Raspbenr*
ocddeDtalis, L. ThimUeMrryw
villonaa, Ail. Hiffh lUadibany.
Canadeosit, L. Low Bladkbany.
hiBpidua, L. Swamp Dladdwnj.

Xota, Touni.

Carolina, L. Swamp Boaa^

lacida, Ehrb.

rubigioosay Li SwaetMer*

CratflBgoay L.

coodoea, L. Scarlet Thorn.

TjTUMf Li

arbatifolia, L. t Choke Bemr.
aueuparia, Gitrt European Mountain Aah»

Amelanchier, Medic

CanadeDBiB, Torr. ft Or. Shad-boA.

26. SAZIFRAOACaS. (SaXIFBAGS FAJOLT.)

This family is interesting to us as containing a eonsidenble
number of our cultivated plants rather than of m^genous onety
of which we have but few representatives. The most important
one is the Gooseberry. None of them are harmful. The Hy-
drangea, frequent in cultivation, and the Red Currant belong
here.

Ribei, L.

oxjacanthoideSy L. Gootebeny.

8azifiraga» L.

Virginienti*, Mx. Early Saxifrage.
Pennsylvauica, L. Swamp Saxifrage.

Chrytosplenium, Tonm.

iUnericanum, Scbweio. Golden Saxifrage.

104 Misiarjf qf SingkanL

27. CRASSXriiACZLSL (StONE-CBOP FaHILT.)

Herbs, represented in Hingham by two genera, — Pcnthorum
and Sedum. The plants of the latter are very succulent Tlie
Houseleck,* Sempenrivum tectorum, well known by its thick,
fleshy leaves, belongs to this order. None of the species have
noxious qualities.

Penfhomm, Gronor.

sedoides, L. Stone-crop.

Sedam, Toum.

aere^ L, Mossy Stone-crop.
Tdephxumj L. Live-forever.

28. DR08ERACRS. (SUNDEW FaMILT.)

Delicate, small plants occurring in boggy grounds, and gener-
ally covered with glandular hairs. One species of this family,
the Dionasa musci])ula, a native of North Carolina, is the cele-
brated Yenus^s Flytrap, which has glands that exude a secretion
of a character to attract flics. As soon as one alights upon the
lobes of the leaf, which has projecting processes, they close upon
the unfortunate insect.

Excepting a slight bitterness, the plants of this family have
no marked qualitiea.

Srosera, L.

rotundifolia, L. Roond-leaved Sundew.
iDterioedia, Ilayne, rar. Americaua, D C.

29. HAMAMELIDE2B. (WiTCH-HaZEL FaMTLT.)

Trees and shrubs. The well-known tree, the Witch Hazel, is
common in our damp woods. It is peculiar in blossoming late
in autumn, when the wintry winds betoken early death to .the
flowers, and in not maturing its fruit until the succeeding sum-
mer. The divining rods of those who seek metals or water in
the earth through their agency are formed from the small
branches of this tree ; hence the common name. The plants of
the family are harmless. An extract of one species is much used
as a medicine externally, and sometimes internally, with reputed
advantage.

Hamamelii, L.

VirginiaDa, L. Witdi-Hazel.

30. HALORAOE2B. (WaTER-MiLFOIL FaMILT.)

Water and swamp plants, with inconspicuous flowers, having
no noticeable properties*

Myriophyllam, VailL

ambiguuro, Nutt. Water Milfoil,
ambiguum, Nutt, ror. limosom, Torr.

^g^f^^jfgjg^gglgggl^ll^llgifl^^

The Botany of Hingham. 105

Proserpinaca, L.

palustris, L. Memuud-weed.

pectinaceaf Lam.
Callitriclie, L.

verno, L. Water Starwort

31. MELASTOMACXLBB. (MeLASTOMA FaMILT.)

A tropical family, one genus only being found in tcmperata
regions, and of this genus one species is a native of Hingham,
It is strikingly beautiful, and fully worthy of the name it bears,
— the Meadow Beauty.

Bhezia, L.

Virginica, L. Meadow Beaa^*«

32. LTTHRACSiB. ( LOOSESTBIFB FaKILT.)

This family is represented in Hingham by two genera, the
species of which are found in marshes or swamps. The plants
are all astringent.

Lythrum, L.

Hyssopifolia L. Loosestrife..

Salicaria, L. Spiked Loosestrife. Very rare.
Dccodon, Gmel.

verticillatu^, Ell. Swamp Loosestrife.

33. ONAGRACE2B. (EVENING PrIMBOSE FaMILT.)

Herbs with perfect and symmetrical flowers. The most showy
plants in Hingham belonging to this family are the Primroses, and
the Willow Herb. The cultivated ornamental plants belonging
here arc the Fuchsias, natives of South America and southern
North America. All are harmless.

Circsea, Tourn.

Lutetiana, L. Enchanter^s Nightshade.

Epilobium, L.

angiistifolium, L. Willow-herb,
lineare, Muhl.
coloratum, MuhL

(Enothera, L.

bieunis, L. Evening Primrose,
fruticosa, L. Very rare,
pumila, L.

Ludwigia, L.

alteruifolia, L. Seed-box. Not commoD.
palustrisy Ell. Water Purslane.

34. CUCURBITACEiB. (GOUBD FaMILT.)

Succulent herbs that creep or twine by tendrils. This family,
which yields in cultivation several highly-valued vegetables, —

BMMMdU£lttMi^tfii

106 Hitlory of Bingham.

the Cacumber, Squash, Watermelon and Muskmelon, — is known
to the Hingham flora only by two introdaced wec^s.

Sieyofi L. .

mDgaUtui, L. Star Cocamber*

Echinoeyitii, Torr. ft Gr.

kbata, Torr. ft Gr. Wild Balsam-apple.

35. ncoiDaa.

An order separated from the Carjophjllaces. Represented
here by an insignificant weed having no important properties.

][olliigo» L.

veriieUlata, Im Carpet-weed.

36. UMBTlTiTiTFBRJB. (PaRSLET FaMTLT.)

Herbs. Flowers, except in very rare cases and these not of
Hingham species, in umbels. The genera and the species of the
order are very numerous, and var}' much in their properties.
They are generally aromatic, Rome being harmless, while many
are very noxious. Of the latter, the Cicuta maculata (Water
Hemlock), the Cicuta bulbifera (narrow-leaved Hemlock), the
^thusa cynapium (FooFs Parsley), and the Sium liiieare (Water
Parsnip) are all deadl}* poisons when taken into the system.

The seeds are stated to be always harmless, and many of them
are in common use, as Anise, Carraway, Dill, and Coriander.
The roots and herbage of several 3'ield wholesome food, as the
Carrot and Parsnip.

Hydrocotyle, Toum.

AmericaDa, L. Pennywort

Sanicala, Toum.

Marylaodica, L. Saoide.

Marylandica, tHir. CaDadeosiSy Torr. " '^*

Saacai, Toum.

CarotOy JL Carrot.

Eeraclenm, L. *

lanatum, Mz. Cow-parmipb

Pattinaca, L.

sativOy L. Pannip.

Angelica, L.

atropurpurea, I^ Great ADgelica.

Coeloplenmm, Ledeb.

Gmelini, Ledeb. Coast Angelica.

Athnsa, L.

Cynapiunij L, Fool^s Parsley.

Ligasticimi, L.

Scoticum, L. Lovage.

Thaspiom, Nutt.

aureum, Natt. Meadow Parsnipi Barsb

., .-^..^ v.^ ^.-^ .v,,^,^^.„,^t:,Aui:,..iiiftCi^*ai

)'«

77l« J^otony of Hingham. 107

Cienta, L.

maculaU, L- Water Hemlo^
bulbifera, .L. Narrow-leaved Hemlock.

Siiim, Toum.

cicutaefolium, Gmel. Water Pamiipi.

Osmorrhiza, RaL * i

longistylis, D C. Sweet Ciodj.

37. ARALIACXLS. (GiNSEKO FaMILT.)

The properties of the plants of this family are much the same
generally as in those of the Umbellifers. Some species furnish
valuable medicines, as Ginseng, Sarsaparilla, and Spikenard. The
order is represented in Hingham by one genus only.

Aralia, Tourn.

raceroosa, L. Spikenard.

hispida. Vent. Bristly Sarsaparilla, Rare.

Dudicaulis, L. Wild Sartaparilla.

trifolia, Decsne & Planch. Dwarf Gioseog.

38. CORNACRS. (DOGWOOD. FaMILT.)

Trees and shrubs, very rarely herbs. There are two genera in
Hingham, — Cornus and Nyssa. Of the former a number of spe-
cies are common in all ])arts of the town. The bark is yery
astringent and that of the C. florida is used sometimes medicinally
as a tonic. The Nyssa is represented by the tree known as Tupelo,
which in autumn adorns our forests with its bright crimson
foliage.

Conms, Tourn.

Canadensis, L. BuDcb-berry.

florida, L. Flowering Dogwood.

circinata, L'ller. Round-leaved Dogwood.

sericea, L. Silky Dogwood.

paniculata, Uller. Panicled Dogwood.

alternifolia, Lf. Alternate-leaved Dogwood.
Syssa, L.

sylvatica, Marsb. Topela

GAMOPETALOUS EXOGENS.

39. CAPRIFOLIACEiB. (HONEYSUCKLE FaMILT.)

Mostly shrubs, often twining, and rarely herbs. All have oppo*
site leaves. The fine genus Viburnum enriches our flora with
several species of great beauty. Some of the plants are used
medicinally, as emetic and cathartic properties prevail in many.
Triosteura perfoliatum. Fever-wort, has much reputation foi
effects similar to those of Ipecac

HMiAMMMMlMil^MIMMl^^HiartiBdHMi*

108 Siitory of JTu^ham.

Samlraeiii, Toorn.

Cauadeosii, L. Elder,
raoemosm, L. Bed- berried Elder.

"nbniniim, L.

aeerifolionn, L. Maple-leaved Arrow-wood.
dentatDoiy L. Toothed Arrow-wood.
cassiDoidet, Lb AVithe-rod.
Leutago, L. Sweet Arrow-wood.

Triostemii, L^

perfoliatum, L. Fever-wort.

Lonicera, L.

aempervirem, Ait Trumpet-HoDejsuckle.
IKerviUay Toum.

trifida, MoBDch. Bash-HoDeysucUe. Very rare.

40. RUBIACRS. (MaDDEU FaMILT.)

Trees, shrubs, and herbs. Bopresented in Hingham but by a
single shrub, the Button-bush, and by a few herbs, but among
these last is one of rare beauty, far too little appreciated, the
Mitchella rcpens. Partridge berry. This sweet little plant adonied
with fragrant twin flowers, bright polished evergreen leaves, and.
showy scarlet berries is worthy of much more notice than is
given it

Though our species do not furnish products of noticeable value,
the family includes plants of great importance to man. Madder,
80 ser\'iceable in the arts, is from the root of one of tlic s]>ecics.
Others furnish some of our most-highly i)rized medicines, as Peru-
vian Bark, Quinine, Cinchona, Ipccacuana, etc. Coffee, the
common luxury of our tables, is the product of a tree of this
family.

Hotutonia, L.

cacnilea, L. Bluets.

purpurea, L., ror. loDgifolia, Gray.

Cephalanthni, L.

occideDtalis, L. Button-bosh.

Mitchella, L.

repens, L. Partridge-berry.

(hdinm, L.

Aparine, L. Cleavers.
circaezaDS, Mx. Wild Liquorice,
trifidum, L. Small Bedstraw.
asprellum, Mx. Rough Bedstraw.
tnflorum, Mx. Sweetpscented Bedstraw.

41. C0MP08IT2B. (COMPOSITE FaMILT.)

The compound flowers of early botanists. The plants of this
order are readily recognized by their flowers being grouped in

MfcM^ai^iiMi II iiii-iiiiMaMyirin

77i€ Botany of Hingkom. 109

numbers upon a common receptacle, the enlarged head of the
flower stalk, and by the anthers of the stamens cohering in a tube;
The marginal flowers generally have strap-shaped'corofias, which,
extending as rays around the receptacle, are often very showy,
while the interior ones of the disk having onlv tubular corollas
arc comparatively insignificant. This gives the impression to
observers unfamiliar with botanical details that only a single
flower is seen where many are aggregated.

Take the Sunflower, so called, for an example ; the very name
of which implies it is one flower. In this case each of the yellow
rays surrounding the whole receptacle is the corolla of a Bii^le
marginal flower, those of the disk having no such rays. Ttt»
greater portion of the Composites of our town are of this charao-
ter. The flowers of some have the corollas all strap-shaped or
ligulate, as this form is called, as may be seen ip the Dandelion
and many others.

The Composite, considering the vast number of species, do not
furnish many useful products to man. A few supply food, as the
Artichoke, Salsify, and Lettuce. The root of the Chickory is used
extensively as a substitute for coffee. From the seeds of the Sun-
flower and some others an oil is expressed which is valuable. A
bitter principle, found in se^ieral species, combined with other
properties, has led to the use of many of them medicinally, par-
ticularly Wormwood, Camomile, Arnica, Artemisia, and Elecam-
pane. Some are quite poisonous, as Arnica.

As objects of beauty many of the cultivated spedes of the order
surpass those of any other in the autumnal season. How greatly
should we feel the loss of the Asters, the Chrysanthemums, the
Dahlias, and the varieties of Coreopsis from our flower gardens
when nearly all their earliqr companions *^ are faded and gone.**

Vemonia, Schreb.

Doveboracensis, Willd. Iron Weed. BarSL

Mikania, Willd.

scandens, L. Hemp Weed.

Eupatoriom, Toorn.

purpuream, L. - Trumpet Weed.

teucrifolium, Willd.

sessilifoHum, L. Boneset

perfoliatum, L. Thoroughwort.
Solldago, L.

C£c>ia, L. Golden Bod.

latifolia, L.

bicolor, L.

sempervirena, Li

puberula, Natt

odora, Ait.

Bpeciosa, Natt

rugoea. Mill.

Elliottii, Torr. ft 6r.

ktUHmMimMOtU^m^ I 11 1 ir B*: *! ii M.Mli'' m fcg^^>i<<h>^W>*M>ia^ifci^NtoiMihi'inf ii i g>^fcdMhdfcMM*iiJMfc

110 History of Hingham.

neglecUy Toit. ft Or.

neglectm, Torr. ft Gr^ vor. liiKudet, Graj*

jonoeay Ait

lerotina, Ait.

■erotinmy var. g^gantat, Gimj.

nemoimlit, Ait.
. knoeolftta, L.
teniiifolim, Porsh.

Sericoearpni, Neet.

solidagineuty Nees. White-topped Aster.
coDjfoidety Neet.

Alter, L.

eorymbosiMy Ait

macrophjllnt, L.

Novae- Anglis, JL

pmtens, Alt

undiilfttiiiy L.

eordifoliiMy L.

heTit, L.

eriroidei^ Lb

maltiflonity AiL

dumotiiSi L.

▼iroiDeos, Lam.

diffoBDB, Ait

paniculatat, Lam.

talicifolioB, Ait

Novi-Belgiiy L.

Novi-Belgii, var. litoreos, Gray.

punioeiu, L.

umbellatOB, MilL

lioariifoliuSy L. «

acuminatiiA, Mr.

sobalatot, Mx.

Erigeron, L.

bellidifoliaSf Mubl. Robin^s PlaDtain.
PbiladelpbicQSy L. Fleabaoe.
aoDuiu, Pen.

strigosQs, Mubl. Daisy Fleabane.
Canadensis, L. Horse-weed.

Plnchea, Cass.

campborata, D C. Marsb Fleabane.

Antexmaria, Gsrt

plantagiiiifolia, Hook. Plantain-leaved EverlasUng.

Anaphalifl, D C

magaritacea, Bentb. & Hook. Pearly Everlasting.

Onaphaliiun, L.

polycepbalum, Mx. Everlasting,
nliginosum, L. Cudweed.

Inula, L.

Helenium^ L, Elecampane. Rare.

-. ■,>..^- •■^^«»..m^M^,^^^*:^AMui,i^L,MlMa6M^,^tmmmM.i^

The Botany of Bingham. Ill

lyay L.

frutesceoBy L. Mmrsh Elder,

Ambrosia, Touni.

artemisixfolia, L. Boman Wormwood.

Xanthinm, Tourn.

Canadense, Mill. ror. echinatum. Gray. CocUe-bor.

Bndbeckia, L.

hirta, L. CoDe-flower.

Helianthtis, L.

aunuiis^ L. Sunflower.

divaricatus L.

8truino8UB, L.

dcca))etalii«, L.

ttiberosus, L. Jerusalem Artichoke.

Coreopsis, L.

titictoria, Xutt Not common.

Bidens, L.

frond osa, L. Beggar-ticks.
coiiData, Mubl. Swamp-ticks,
ceniua, L. Smaller Swamp-ticks.
cbrj8antbemoides, Mx. Larger Swamp-tkks.

Anthemis, L.

Cotula^ D C. May-weed.

arvensis^ L. Coru Chamomile. Bare.

Achillea, L.

Millefolium. L. Yarrow.
Ptarmica^ L, Sueeze-wort Bare.

Chrysanthemum, Tourn.

Leucanthemuin^ L. Daisy. White-weed.

Tanacetum, L.

vvlgnre^ Z. Tansy.

Artemisia, L.

vulgarUy L. Mugwort.

Senecio. Tourn.

aureus, L. Golden Bag- wort.
vulgaris, L, Groundsel.

Erechtites, Baf.

hieracifolia, Baf. Fire-weed.

Arctium, L.

LappOf L.y var. minus, Gray. Burdock.

Cnicus, Tourn.

arvensis^ Hoffin, Canada ThiRtle.

htnceolatus^ Hoffm, Common Thistle.

pumilus, Torr. Pasture Thistle.

altissimus, Willd., var. discolor, Gray. Tall Thistle.

muticus, Pursh. Swamp Thistle.

horridulus, Pursh. Yellow Thistle.

Onopordon, Vaill.

Acaniiiium^ L, Cotton Thistle.

112 HUtory qf Hingham.

"^
CentanraA, L.

niffrOf JL Knapweed.

^rigia, Sdireb.

Virgitiica, Willd. Dwmrf Dandelioiu
Cichoriiim« Toom.

Jnfjfbus, L. Cbicoorj.

Leontodon, L.

auUimnaUi^ Z. Hawkbit Fall Dandelioo.

Hieraciiun, Tourn.

Canadense, Mx. Canada Hawkweed.
pauiculatonif L. Panided Hawkweed.
veiiotum, L. Rattle-suake Hawkweed.
sGabrnm, Mx. Rough Hawkweed.

Prenanthea, Vull.
altisnma, L.
aerpentaria, Pureh.

Taraxaenm, Hall.

officinale^ Weber. Dandelion.

Laetaea» Tourn.

Canadensia, L. Wild Lettuce.

integrifolia, BigeL

leucophsa. Gray. Blue Lettuce. Rare.

Sonehna, L.

oieraeeuM^ L. Sow-Thistle.
<Mpfr, ViU. Spiny-leaved Thistle.

42. LOBELIACRZEI. (LOBEUA FaMTLY.)

Herbs with a milky juice. All the 8]>ccies arc poisonous. One
of them, the Indian Tobacco, Lobelia inflata, a common plant of
our town, is very much so, and has been used too freely in cliar-
latan practice, — many deaths having resulted from such use. One
of the most beautiful and showy plants of our wet meadows is the
Lobelia Cardinalis, which exhibits its large and bright scarlet
flowers in the summer and early autumn.

Lobelia, L.

cardiDaliB, L. Cardinal-flower.
Dortmaona, L. Water Lobelia,
spicata, Lam.
inflata, L. Indian Tobacco.

43. CAMPANULACIUB. (BeLLWORT FaMILT.)

Like the Lobcliaccic, the plants of this family are herbs with a
milky juice, but unlike them, they are harmless. Indeed, the
roots and young leaves of some of them are eaten for food.

The flowers are generally blue. Tliey are so in our two
species.

1^ ^■^. . -^ -i^, ^>-^«^«--^a.

The Botany of Hingham. 118

Specnlaria, Heist

perfoliata, A. D C Venii8*8 Looking-glati.

Campannla, Tourn.

rapunculoides^ L. Bell-flower. Escaped from gardens.

44 EBICACEiB. (HeaTH FaMILT.)

Shrubby and Herbaceous plants, — dear to us for the luxuries
furnished in our rural walks and u|K)n our tables; for what would
a season be to us without Huckleberries, Blueberries of many
species, and Cranberries!

As objects of beauty and fragrance, how could we spare the
Trailing Arbutus, the Cassandra, the Andromeda, the Clethra,
the Rhododendron, and the Kahnia, in our wanderings. AU
these and many otliers of our flora make fragrant the air with
the odors they exhale, or charm the eye by their beauty.

With but few exceptions the plants of this family are entirely
innocuous.

The leaves of the Rhododendron and the Kalmia, however, con-
tain a narcotic principle which sometimes renders them poisonous.

Some of the species, as the Bearberry and the Chimaphila, are
used medicinally, — infusions of the leaves being found serviceable.

Oaylussacia, H. B. K

frondosa, Torr. & Gr, Dangleberry.
resiiiosa, Torr. & Gr. Black HuckJebeny.

Vaccinium, L.

Peiiiisylvanicuro, Lam. Dwarf Blaeberry.
vacillaiift, Solander. Low Blueberry,
corymltosum, L. Tall Blueberry,
macrocarpoii, Ait. Cranberry.

Chiogenes, Sal is.

siTpy Hi folia, Sails. Creeping Snowberry. Very RarOi

Arctostaphylos, Adau.

Uva-urbi, Spreiig. Bearberry.

Epigsea, L.

re])en8, L. Mayflower.

Oanltheria, Kalm.

procumbeuf, L. Cbeckerberry.

Andromeda, L.

ligustrina, Muhl.

Lencotho'e, Don.

racemosa, Gray.

Cassandra, Don.

c'al}cu1ata, Don. Leather-leaL

Kahnia, L.

latifolia, L. Mountain LaureL
aii;;uiitifolia, L. Sheep LaureL

Bhododendron, L.

viscosum, Torr. Swamp Honeysuckle.
Rhodora, Don. Rhodora.

TOL. I. — S

114 Bistory of Singhaim.

Qefhra, Grooor.

alniibliji, L. White Alder.

ChimapMlav Ponh.

umbellata, Natt Prince*! Pioet
macalata, Pareh. Spotted WintergreeD.

PyrolfttTooriL

seconda, Li Winteigreeii.
cbloranUia, Swarts.
elliptica, Natt
rotundifolia, L.

Konotropa, ti.

nniflora, L. Indian Pipe.
Hjpopitji, L. Pine-8apw

45. PLXJMBAOINACXL2B. (LeADWORT FaMILT.)

Seaside plants. Our species, the Sea Lavender or Marsh Rose-
mary, is very common along our shores. The root is very as-
tringent, and is much used in medicine, especially in cases of
inflammation and ulceration of the throat.

Tonm.
Limoniom, L. Marsh Rosemary.

46. PRIMULACE2I. (PRIMROSE FaMILT.)

None of the plants of this family serve impoilant useful pur-
poses, but all are harmless. The species are few in our flora, but
they differ much in apijearancc and habits. The Tricntalis is one
of the most delicate of them and is often seen nestling in the
thickets with its companions, the Anemones, bearing its beautiful
star-shaped flowers; while in contrast may be found in the. wet
swamps and stagnant waters, the Ilottonia, a coarse plant with
large inflated stems, interesting more from its peculiar character-
istics than from its beauty.

Hottonia, L.

inflata, EIL Featherfoil.

Trientalis, L.

AmericaDa^ Pursh. Star-flower.

Lysimachia, Toum.

quadrifolia^ L Loosestrife.

stricta. Ait.

nummularia^ L, Moneywort.

Steironema, Raf.

lanceolatum. Gray.

Anagallii, Tonra

arvensii^ L, PimpemeL

Samolni, Toum.

Yalerandi, L var. AmericannM, Gray. Brook weed.

jiiTi.ift j,-|,|rtyMtiMiiiaiaMhaiBiiaiiBiaiigMi^^

The Botany qf Hlngham. 115

47. OLEAGELZa (OUYE FaMILT.)

Trees and shrubs. Though possessing bitter and astringent

Eroperties thej are harmless. The Olive tree is one of the best
nown of the family, as its fruit and the oil it produces are eaten
throughout the civilized world. Among the cultivated plants are
the Common and Persian Lilacs, the Virginia Fringe tree, and the
Jessamine. The species native to our flora are the White, Bed,
and Black Ash. The Privet is extensively naturalized in all parts
of the town.

Lignstrrmi, Toum.

vuJgare, L, PriveL

Frazinas, Tourn.

Americana, L. White Ash.
pubescens, Lam. Red Ash.
sambucifolia, Lam. Black Ash.

48. AFOCTNACE2L (DOGBANE FaIULT.)

Apocynnm, Toarn.

audrus.Tmifolium, L. Dogbane.
cannabinam, L. Indian Uemfp.

49. ASCLEPIADACE2B. (MiLKWEED FaMILT.)

Herbs and shrubs ; but in ITingham, herbs only which belong
to tlie genus Asclej)ia8, and all bear umbels of flowers. Like
the Apocynaceaj, they have a milky juice, but the properties
of this as well as the other parts of the plants are much less
noxious. One of the most beautiful plants of New England is the
A. tuberosa, which is exceedingly rare, if indeed it is yet to be
found wild within the town limits.

Asclepias, L.

tuberosa, L. Butterfly-weed,
incarnata, L. Swamp Milkweed.
Cornuti, Decaisne. Hedge Milkweed.
obtusi folia, Mx.

phytolaccoides, Pursb. Poke IVIilkweed.
quadrifolia, L. Four-leave<l Milkweed,
verticillata, L. Whorled Milkweed.

50. GENTIANACE-SJ. (GeNTIAN FaMILY.)

Herbs. Tliis family has furnished us with one of the most
beautiful and interesting of the plants of our flora, the Fringed
Gentian, and care should be taken to prevent its extermination,
now seriously threatened. The only way to prevent this is to
leave at least a portion of the flowers to mature and drop their
seeds, it being an annual and propagated only in this way. All

116 HUiory of Hingham.

the plants of the family have pervading them a very bitter princi-
ple, which, affording a good tonic, has led to the extensive nse of
several of the species medicinally.

Oentiana, Tooni.

crinita, FroeK Fringed GenUan.
Andrewtti, Griseb. Closed

Bartoniav Mnbl.
teDella, Mnhl.

Kenyanthes, Toani.

trifoliata, L. Buckbean. Not oommon.

51« BORRAOINACEiB. (BORAGE FAMILY.)

Mostly herbs. All our species arc such, and all bristly or hairy.
They are mucilaginous and harmless.

XyosotiB, Dill.

arveDsis, lioffm.

vema, Nutt.

laza, Lebm.

palustrU, With. Foi^et-me-not

Symphytiun, Toarn.

officinale, L, Comf rey. Rare.

Ecliinm« Touro.

vulifare, L. Blue-weed. Rare.

Ecbinospermam, I^bm.

Lappvla, Jjehn. Stick-seed. Rare.

Lythospemimit Touni.

arvensey L. Corn GromwelL

52. CONVOLVULACHS. (CONVOLVULUS FaMILY).

Mostly herbs, twining about other plants; always so with those
of our town. Two of these of the genus Cuscuta arc parasitic
upon the bark of the herbs or shrubs they climb upon. Rome
species are very ornamental in cultivation, as the Morning Glory
and the Cypress vine.

The roots of the plants have generally a milky juice which is
used in medicine as a purgative. The Sweet Potato is a valuable
product of a ])lant of this family, native to the East Indies, but
now cultivated in all tropical and semi-tropical regions, and even
to a considerable extent within the temperate zone. It will
flourish well in Hingham and yield good-sized tubers, but they
lack the sweetness of such as come from the Carolinas.

Convolvnlni, Toum.

sepiam, L. Hedge Bindweed.
arvensis, L. Smaller Biudweed.

Cnsenta, Toum.

GroDovii, Willd. Dodder,
compacta, Just. Rare.

Tk§ Bakmf qf Kmgkmm. 117

53. BoxjkVAcaua (NnHnHADi FijaLT.)

Herbs with us ; sometimes shnibs.in oilier ref^ons. TUs fun-
ily furnishes that most vtluiMe tuber, the poteto; and also tiia
nutritious and wholesome fruit of the Tomato and Ein nlauL ▲
narcotic alkaloid, however, pervades the fP^cies. rendering many
noxious and some violently poiaonooa. Even the heitiam of the
potato and its raw fruit (not the tubers) contain too mudi of the
alkaloid to be safe for food.

Tobacco, one of the most potent of all the enemies that man
puts into his mouth, is a product of the Nicotiana Tsbaeum, a
native of Central America.

Our wild species are all more or less poiaonoas, — tbe Datura
tatula, or Thorn-apple, being the most aow

As might be supposed from the active nareotie eharactar of the
plants of this family, many furnish useful medicfaiBa>

8olaniUB« Tourn.

Dukamara^ L. NuAtthada.
Digram, L. Black Nig^sbada.

Physalis^L.

Vii^nians, MilL * Grooiid Ghsny. ^ Barai

Vicandra, Adaat.

phy$aloide$j G^trU Apple of Peru. Barai *

Datura, L.

TaiulOf L. Purple Thorn-apple.

■" .*

54. SCROPHXTLARXACaB. (FlOWOSr FllOLT.)

Mostly herbs. A very large family of plants, inhabitanta^ alike
of cold and warm climates, and though properlj classed together
by natural affinities, yet exhibiting great diversity <rf charairter.
One, a native of Japan, is a tree forty feet in hei^t, and luiT*
m^ a trunk two to three feet in diameter, yet bearing clusters of
blossoms similar to those of the common Foxglova We may
contrast with this tlie Limosella, a plant from one to two inches
in height, which grows in the tidal mud of the shores. The
family is well represented in Hingham by the Gerardias, the
Veronicas, and other well-known genera.

The properties of the plants are not such as to inspire the lov-
ing feelings towards them that arc excited by the Kosacese, the
Labiat®, and some others, for they are acrimonious and dele-
terious. One of them, a commonly cultivated species of the
genus Digitalis, the Foxglove, is violently poisonous. This and
several others of kindred nature afford to man some compensa-
tion for their noxious qualities by furnishing medicines oi great
value. Many of tbe species are highly omamentaL

MOata^HBi^S^MlMMAiik^MMHMteaittMlMiUiAtfi

118 Hidorjf qf Himgham.

Yerbtiwiin, L.

Blaitana^ L. Motb MoDeiii.

Linariftv L.

CanadeDsis, Damont. Toad-Flaz.
vulgaris^ JfilL Batter-and-Eggt.

Scropliiilmriay Tonrn.

oodosa, L. var. Marilaodica, Gray. Figwort. Bare.

Chdantf Tourn.

glabra, Lb Soake-head.

Kimnluti L.

ringeni, L. Monkey-flower.

Oratiola, L.

aurea, MuhL Hedge Hj88op.

nyiantlies, Ra£

riparia, Raf . False PimperDeL

Veronicat L.

Auagallis, L. Water Speedwell,
scute)] ata, L. Marsh Speed welL
6eq)}l]ifolia, L. Thyme-leaved SpeedwelL
peregriiia, L. FurslMoe SpeedwelL
arvtmii^ L. Com SpeedwelL
affrestisj L. Field SpeedwelL

Gerardia, L.

pedicularia, L. Gerardia.
flava, L. Downy Gerardia.
quercifolia, Pursh. Oak-leaved Gerardia.
purpurea, L. Purple Gerardia.
maritima, Raf. Seaside Gerardia.
tenuifolia, VahL Slender Gerardia.

Pedicnlaris, Touro. '

Canadensis, L. Louse-wort.

Kelampymm, Toum.

Americanum, Mx. Cow-wheat

55. OROBANCHACZLS. (BrOOM-BaPE FaMILT.)

Plants without leaves ; low, fleshy, and of a reddish-brown or
yellowish-brown color. All parasites upon the roots of other
plants. There are in Ilingham but two species, one of which
exists upon the roots of tl)e Beech and is consequently found only
under the shade of this tree. The plants are astringent and
bitter.

Aphyllon* Blitch.

oDiflomm, Torr. 6t Gr. Canoer-root.

Ipi^tegvi, Nntl.

Bart Beecfa-dropa.

7%e Botany iff Hingham. 119

56. LENTIBULARIACZLZa (BlaDDEBWOBT FaMILT.)

Aquatic bcrbs. Represented in Hingham bj one genus, the
XTtricularia. The species are generally immersed, sometimes
deeply, and have leaves much dissected, having upon them little
bladders which being filled with air cause the plant to bear the
flowers above the water. One species, the U. gibba has been
found rooted in the marginal mud of a pond.

The plants have no noxious properties.

TTtrictilariay L.

inflau, Walt. laflated Bladderwort
vulgaris, L. Greater Bladderwort.
gibba, L. Dwarf Bladderwort
intermedia, Hayne.

57. VERBENACXLS. (YeBTAIN FaMILT.)

Trees, shrubs, aud herbs; with us, herbs only, and confined to
two species. The plants of this family are harmless and difiFer
but little from those of the next in general characteristics ; but
they lack the aromatic fragrance that makes the Labiat»
attractive.

The Teak wood of India, so renowned for its durability, is the
product of a tree of this order, of large dimensions, having a
height of about one hundred feet.

Verbena, Toura.

hastata, L. Blue Vervain.
urticaefolia, L. AVhite Vervain.

58. LABIATJB. (MiNT FaHILT.)

A family of pleasing and useful herbs ; pleasing hj the aroma
they exhale and useful in many ways to man. No species is
harmful or, as the botanist Wood states, even suspicious. To it
belong the Peppermint, Spearmint^ Pennyroyal, Sage, Thyme,
Lavender, Hoarhound, Catnip, and other well-known herbs.

Tlie foliage has small glands which secrete a volatile oil that
yields the fragrance so marked in most of the species.

Trichostema, L.

dichotomum, L. Blue Corls.

Teucrium, Toum.

Canadense, L. Grermander.

Jllentlia, Team.

vtridis^ L, SpearminL '
piperita, Z. PepperminL
Canadensis, L. Wild l^Gnt.

120 History of Bingham.

'^
Xyeopoiy Toorn.

Viipnicius L. . Bagle-weed.
- sinuatot, £11 Catrleaved Bagle-weed.

Pyenanthemnm, Mx.

muticum. Fere. Moantain Mint,
lioifolium, Pareh. Narrow-leaved Mint

Origanniiiy Toarn.

vul^re^ Ih Wild Marjoram. Rare.

Hedeoma, Pen.

pulegiddes, Pers. PennyrojaL

Xonarda, L.

iistulosa, L. Wild Bergamot

Hepeta, L.

Catariaj L. Catoip.
Giechoma^ Benth. Ground IJJ.

Scutellaria, L.

lateriflora. Lb Scoll-capw
galericolata, L.

Bmnella, Tonm.

\ul;:arit, L. Self-heaL

BaUoUiL.

nigniy L, Black Iloiehonnd.

Leonnnis, L.

Cttrdiaea, L, Motherwort

Oaleopiis, L. Hemp-Nettle.
TtirMi, L.

Stachyi, Tonm.

arcentis^ Z% Woundwort Rare.

Tiaininni, L.

amplexicaule^ L. Dead-Nettleu
inUrmedium, Fr, Rare.

59. PLANTAGINACE2. (PLANTAIN FaMTLY.)

Stcmlcss herbs without properties of any importance. The
Plantajro major, one of the species, is so common about our
dwellings as to have given rise to the saying that wherever the
white man puts his feet the Plantain is sure to spring up.

Flantago, Toum.

major. L. Plantain.

Rui^elii, Decaisne.

decipiens, Harneoud. Marsh Plantain.

lancefffata^ L. Ribgrass.

Patagouicii. Jacq., var. aristata, Gray. Rare.

60. ILLECEBRACE2:. (WhITLOWWORT FaBULT.)

There are but two plants in Ilingham belonging to this new
order, separated from the Caryophyllaceae. Their properties are
unimportant.

^.^.^......^ — ^^^^. — .■.^^-■■■■^.

122 History qf Hingham.

€X FHYTOLACCACILS. (POKEWEED FaMILT.)

A small family of herbs or midershrubs, chiefly natives of the
tropics. We have only one species, — the Garget or Pokeberry,
tlie root of which u poisonous.

Phytdlaeea, Toom.

decandra, Jm Poke.

64. FOLyOONACRS. (BUCKWHEAT FaHILT.)

This order includes a few trees and shrubs, but is almost en-
tirely composed of herbaceous plants, principally natives of the
north temperate zones, but found in nearly all paiis of the world.
Some species are medicinal, some furnish dyes, and to the food
supply of the earth the order contributes Buckwheat, Rhubarb
(the stalks of which are edible, the leaves containing so much
oxalic acid as to be poisonous), and the fruits of some East and
West Indian species.

Pdlygonam, Team.

orienialet JL Prince's Feather.

PeDDsylvanicom, L.

lapathifolium, L^ rar. incamatum, Watson.

Persicaria^ L. \aAf% Thumbi ^

Hydropiper, L. Smartweed.

acre, li. B. K. Water Smartweed*

hydropiperoides, Mx. ^lild Smartweed.

Muhlenberffii, Watson. Water Pereicaria.

aviculare, £. Knotgrass.

erectum, L. Rare.

ramosissimum, Mz.

tenne, Mx.

arifolinm, L. Halberd-leaved Tear-thumb.

sagittatum, L. Arrow-leaved Tear-thumb.

Cunvoivulus^ L, Bindweed.

dumetonim, L., rar. scandens, Gray.

dlinode, Mx.

Fagopymm, Team.

eMculentum, Afoench, Buckwheat Rare.

Bnmex, L.

salicifolius, Weinmann. White Dock.
critpuM, Ih, Carled Dock.
oUusifolius, L, Bitter Dock.
sanguineus^ Z. Bloody-veined Dock. Rare.
AcetoieUa^ L. SorreL

65. LAURACE^I. (LaUREL FaKILT.)

A very important order of trees and shrubs, natives of Amer-
ica, Europe (one species), and Asia, but mostly tropical.
The character pervading the order is a pleasant aroma, and

The Botany of Hingham. 128

among the products are Cinnamon, Camphor, Cassia, and other
medicinal barks, and a number of aromatic fruits and oils. The
timber of some species is valuable.

Sassafras, Nees.
officinale, Nees.

Lindera, Thuub.

Benzoin, Blume. Spice Bosh.

66. 8ANTALACB2I. (SaNDAL-WOOD FaMILT.)

An order of trees, shrubs, and herbs, natives of Europe, Amer-
ica, Australia, and the East Indies. The European and North
American species are licrbaccous, while the trees occur in the
East Indies and South Sea Islands. Tlie celebrated Sandal-wood
is a product of several species of this order. The family has
medicinal properties, and a tea is made from the leaves of one
species, while another (the Buffalo-tree or Oil Nut^ yields an
oil. Represented in Hingham by one insignificant species.

Comandra, Xatt

umbellau, Natt. Toad-flax.

67. EUPHORBIACE2L (SPURGE FaMILT.)

' A family of about 2,500 species, comprising trees, shrubs, and
herbs, natives chiefly of warm countries, especially tropical Amer-
ica. The few Northern species are herbaceous. The plants of
this order abound in an acrid juice, which, in nearly all of
them, is poisonous. Many are valuable in medicine, furnishing
Croton Oil, Castor Oil, Cascarilla Bark, etc. The fruits ana
seeds of some, and the starch of others Qrielding Tapioca, etc),
are edible. The timber of some trees is valuable, — African
Teak, for example. Caoutchouc is the product of several South
American plants of this order. Some species yield various dyes
and many are cultivated for their beauty.

Euphorbia, L.

maculata, L. Sparge.
Preslii, Guss.
Cypariitias^ L.

Acaljrpha, L.

Virginica, L. Three-seeded Mercury.

68. URTICACELS. (NeTTLE FaMILT.)

A large and interesting order, embracing trees, shrubs, and
herbs, principally natives of the tropics, although the temperate
zones contain a considerable number.

The trees and shrubs have generally a milky juice, the herbs
a watery one. This juice in some of the sub-orders is acrid and
poisonous. The celebrated Bohon Upas, one of the deadliest

lOMiMammimuamiiti^akm

124 HisUnry of Hinghava.

poisons known, is the concrete juice of one species found in the
islands of the Indian Ocean. The hairs on the leaves of the
nettles are proverbial for their stinging qualities. Notwithstand-
ing the poisonous properties of the sap of some species, the cel^
brated Cow-tree of South America supplies a milky juice which
is wholesome and valuable as food or drink. This order also
produces the Fig, Breadfruit, Mulberry, and other fruits, besides
the Hop. Hemp, and Fustic, are also products of this family,
as is 6um-lac The famous Banyan-tree is one of the species.

iniiiii8,L.

Americana, L. Elm.

Celtit, Toum.

occidenulif, L. Hack-berry.

ITrtica, Tomrn.

gradllt, Ait Nettle.
dioicOf JL
urengf JL

Pilea, LindL

pomila. Gray. Richwoed.

Boehmeria, Jacq.

cylindrica, Willd. False Nettle.

Cannabis, Tooni.
sativa, L.

Parietaria, Tourn.

Pennsylvaoica, Muhl. Pellitory. Rare.

69. PLATANACE2:. (PlaNE-TREE FaMILY.)

An order of trees and shrubs, natives of the Levant, Barbary,
and North America. The trees of this family are immense ;
specimens of our only siwcies having been found in the West,
thirteen feet in diameter. A tree of the Oriental Plane (P. ori-
entalis) standing on the bank of the Bosphorus, is 141 feet in
circumference and believed to l)e 2,000 years old. The wood of
the trees of this order is used in the arts.

Platanni, L.

ocddentalift, L. Buttonwood.

70. JUGLANDACOSai. (WaLNUT FaMILY.)

An important family, of about thirty species, principally in-
habiting North America. It comprises trees of large size and
imposing ap]>earance, which are very useful in the arts ; fur-
nishing valuable timber, besides affording a dye-stuff made from
the husks and roots. Sugar similar to ma]}lc sugar is obtained
from the sap, and the leaves and bark of some species are used
in medicine. The fruit of many trees of this order is highly
esteemed.

CaryfttNott.

alba, Not
tomentosj
porciiia, '.
amara, ^

A small f:
ica, India, S
affords a wa

Hyrica, L.
cerifera,
asplenifo

This nol
HazcK Oak,
north tempo
the moiuitai
magnificent

Its impor
as furnishin]

Betnla, Toun
lenta, L.
latea« M:
populifol:
papjrifer

Alnni, Toum.
incana, V
serrulata

Carpinns, L.
Carolinia

Ostrya, ]Vli<*h<

Virgiuicfi

Corylas, Toui
Americai
rostrata,

Qnercus, L.
alba, L.
bicolor, T
Prinus, I
Muhlenb
prinoides
ilicifolia,
cocci nea,
tinctoria,
rubra, L.

fcjiiiliHitjitfftiiM I '" "— -*— ^ — .^^^

126 History of Hinghanu

CatUnea, Toorn.

sativa. Mill., wxr. AmericaiML Chestnut.

Fapii, Tonni.

ferrogineay Ait. Beech.

73. 8AUCACZL2B. (WiLLOW FaMILT.)

This family, comprising the Willows and Poplars, is found
almost entirely in the temperate nnd frigid zones. Two species
are the most northern woody plants known. Tlic order embraces
trees and shrubs; some trees reaching a height of eighty feet,
and certain species of the shrubs, in alpine and arctic regions,
rising scarcely more than an inch from the ground. The family
is variously useful in the art-s and valuable in medicine, and
the leaves and young shoots furnish fodder for cattle in some
countries.

Saliz, Tonm.

alha^ L^ var, viteUtna, Koch. White Willow;

tristis. Ait. Dwarf Gray Willow.

humilis, Marsh.

discolor, Muhl. Glaucous Willow.

serioea, Mar»<h. Silky Willow.

petiolaris. Smith. Petioleil Willow.

rostrata, Richard. Livid Willow.

lucida, Muhl. Shiuing Willow.

nignu Marsh. Black Willow.

myrtilloidesy L. Myrtle Willow.

Popnlus, Toum.

tremuloides, Mx. American Afpen.
gnmdideiitata, Mz. Lar^e-toothfd Poplar,
balsamifera, L., var. candicaiis, Gniy. Balm of Gilead.

74. CIIRATOPH7LLACE2. (HORNWORT FaMILT.)

Aquatic plants growing in slow streams and ponds.

Ceratophyllnm, L.

demersum, L. Horuwort

75. CONIFBR^L (PiNE FaMTLY.)

An order of evergreen trees and sDrubs, common to the tem-
perate and torrid zones, but more extensive in the former regions.
The tropical species differ entirely from those existing in cold
climates. The family embraces both low shrubs and some of the
tallest trees in the world ; the gigantic Pines and Redwoods of Cali-
fornia. It is of great importance to man, furnishing timber, tur-
pentine, tar, pitch, and resin, besides certain oils. The seeds of
some species are esculent, and the order is of value in medicine.

The Botany of Hinghava. 127

Chamsecyparif, Spach.

sphseroidea, Spach. White Cedar.

Junipemt, L.

communis, L. JuDiper.

Yir«riiiiana, L. Red Cedar.
Pinui, Tourn.

rigida. Miller. Pitch Fine.

strobus, L. White Pine.

Ficeaf Link.

nigra, Link. Black Sprace.

TflUga, Carr.

Canadensis, Carr. Hemlock.

5I0X0C0TYLED0N0US PLANTS: ENDOGENS.

76. ORCHIDACEiB. (OrCHIS FaMILT.)

A vast family of mostly herbaceous plants, altliough some in
the tropics are shrubs. Many of the orchids are epiphytes;
plants growing on living or dead trees, but drawing sustenance
from the air. They ai*e natives of all pai*ts of the world, but
most numerous in the tropical forests of America, and are re-^
murkablc for the extreme beauty and odd structure of their
flowers, as well as for the grotesque character of the stems and
roots of many species. The root tubercles of a few species fur-
nish tlie ingredients of a nutritious article of food. Vanilla is
a product of a climbing shrub belonging to the order. Only a
few species grow in the United States.

Corallorhiza, Haller.

niuhiflora, Nutt. Coral-roc^

Spiranthes, Rich.

ceruua, Rich. Ladies' Tresses.
gracilis, Big.

Goody era, R. Br.

repcHR, R. Br. Rattlesnake Plantain,
pubescens, R. Br.

Arethusa, Gronov.
bulbosa, L.

Calopogon, R i>.
pulchellus, R. Br.

Fogonia, Juss.

ophioglossoides, Nutt.

Habenaria, Willd.
tridentata. Hook.

blephariglottis, Terr. White Fringed Orchis.
virescens, Spreng.
lacera, R. Br. Ragged Orchis.
psy codes, Gray. Fringed Orchis,
fimbriata, R. Br. Large Fringed Orchis.

Cypripedinm, L.

acaule, Ait. Ladies' slipper.

128 History of Hingham.

77. ZRIDACRS. (IrIB FaXILT.)

Herbaceous plants, with tuberous roots, natives of the Cape
of Good Hope, Central Europe, and North America. Tliej are
celebrated more for their beauty than for U8e, although some
are medicinal and the rootrstocks of a few are edible. Saffron
is the product of one species.

The Flowcr-de-Luce, Crocus, and Gladiolus are of this family.

Iris, Toani.

vereicolor, L. Blae Flag,
prismatica, Parah. Sleuder Flag.

L.
aiiceps, Cay. Blae-eyed Grass,
angustifoliam, MilL

78. AMARTLLIDACXIS. (AmaRTLUS FaMILT.)

Generally bulbous herbs, mostly tropical, furnishing our gar-
dens with some of tlicir most splendid flowers. A few 8|)ccies have
poisonous proi)ertics. The celebrated Mexican drink, pulque, is
made from the Agave.

Hypoxis, L.

erecta, L. Star-grass.

79. LHJACRS. (Lilt Family.)

A large family of principally herbaceous plants, with generally
bulbifcrous roots, found mostly in the warmer portions of the
temperate zones. A few tropical si)ecies arc trees or shrubs. The
order embraces many of our most beautiful wild and cultivated
plants. Some species are useful in medicine, furnishing squills,
aloes, etc. A few such as Onion, Garlic, Asparagus, are edible.
Some are used in tlie arts.

Smilaz, Tourn.

rotu lid i folia, L. Greenbrier,
glauca, Walt Rare,
herbacea, L. Carrion-flower.

Asparagus, Toum.
officinalis^ JL

Polygonatunif Toum.

biflorum, Ell. Solomon's SeaL

Smilacina, Desf.
racemosa, DesL
stellata, DesL

Haianthemnin, Wigg.

Canadense, Desf. Low Solomon's SeaL

/tt/ro, Zc Day Lily.

The Botany of Hingham. 129

Allianif L.

vmeaU, X. Grarlie.
CaoadeDse, Kalnu

i, ToariL
botjyoides, MUL Grmpe Hyadnth. Bare.

Orxiithogaliim, Toarn.

umbellalwny L, Star of Bethlehem.

Lilinxn, L.

Philadelphicum, L. Orange Lily.
Canadeose, L. Yellow Lily.

Erythroninm, L.

Americanum, Keri. Dog-toothed Violet

Oakesia, Watson.

sessilifolia, Watson. Bellwort.

Clintonia, Rat

borealis, Raf. Bare.

Hedeola, GronoT.

Virgiuiana, L. Cucumber-root

Trillinm, L.

ceriiuum, L. Nodding Trillium.

yeratnim« Toum.

viride. Ait Hellebore.

80. PONTEDERIACXLS. (PiCKEREL-WEED FaXILT.)

Aquatic herbs, natives of America and tropical Asia and
Africa, growing in shallow water.

Pontederia, L.

cordata, L. Pickerel-weed.

81. XTRIDACXLS. (YeLLOW-ETEO GbaSS FaIOLT.)

Scdge-like herbs, natives of the tropics, with few species in-
digenous northward.

Xyris, Gronov.

flexuosa, Muhl. Yellow-ejed Grass.

82. JUNCACXLS. (RuSH FaMILT.)

Grassv or Sedgy herbs, generally natives of temperate zonea,
growing in dry or marshy grounds.

Luznla, D C.

campestris, D C. Wood Bosh.

Juncni, Toum.

effusus, L. Bulrush.

Balticus, Detbard, var. littoraliB, EngeL

l^nA

/\nin«

jMiMMiattai^iiiAiiiiiiaiiiaiaiMiAiteie^^ in mi iwiifiiM i

180 HUtarjf qf Hingham.

Genrdi, LoiteL Bhck Gi

teDoii^ Willd.

Greenii, Oaket A Tack.

pelocarpoSy £. Meyer.

ecnmioatui* Mx.

•drpoide^ Lam.

pMiaciensii, J. Gay.

Oanadentia var. loDgicaadatoSi EngeL

83. TYPHACILS. (CaT-TAIL FaBIILT.)

An order of marsh herbs common to all portions of the earth.
The young shoots of some species are edible. The pollen is
inflammable, and used in fireworks. The flags, or leaves, are
made into chair-seats. One of the species is the CatK>*-nine-tail8.

Typha, Toom.

latifolia, L. Cat-taiL

Sparganimn, Toom. .

simplex^ Hadsoo. Bur-reed.

simplex, Hads., var. androcladum, EugoL

84. ARACXUB. (ArUM FaICILT.)

A large family, principally inhabiting the tropics. They are
mostly herbaceous, though some tropical species are shrubby*
Certain plants of the order are esculent, and others medicinal
Some species are very poisonous, if eaten.

Aritmma, Mart

triphyllum, Torr. Indian Turnip.

Peltandra, RaL

undulata, Rai Arrow Arum.

CaIla,L.

palustris, L. Water Arum.

Symplocarpni, Salis.

fcetidus, Salis. Skunk Cabbage.

Aeoms, L.

Calamus, L. Sweet Flag.

85. LEMNACZLS. (DuCK-WEED FaMILT.)

These are the simplest, and some species are the smallest, of
flowering plants. They float free on the top of the water, having
no stems.

lemna, Lb

trisulca, L. Duck-weed,
minor, Lb

Spirodela, Schleid.
pdyrrhixa, Schlmd.

The Botany qf Hingham. 181

8a ALI8MACXL2B. (WaTEB PLANTAIN FAMILT.)

An order of marsh or water plants, chiefly natives of northern
latitudes. The root-stock of one species is esculent; otherwise
the family is of no use to man.

Sagittaria, L.

variabilis^ EDglm. Arrow-head.

87. NAIADACZLS. (PONDWEED FaXILT.)

Aquatic plants found in both salt and fresh waters in all
countries.

Triglochin* L.

maritima, L. Arrow-grass.

Potamogeton, Team.

oatana, L. Pondweed.
PennsjlvaDicuSy Cham.
hjbriduB, Mx.
pulcher, Tack,
pauciflorus, Pursh.
pucilluSy L.

Zostera, L.

marina, L. Ed-grass.

Bnppia, L.

maritioia. Ditch-grass.

88. ERIOCAXTLIUB. (PiPEWORT FaMILT.)

An order of plants growing in or contiguous to water, and
mostly natives of South America. But one species has been
found in Hingham. This grows on the borders of ponds, onlv
a few inches high ; but in deep water the stem attains a lengtn
of several feet.

Eriocanlon, L.

septaugulare. With. Pipewort

89. CTPERACZLS. (SeDGE FaMILT.)

An order of plants akin to the Grasses, which occur in all
zones. They are generally of low growth, although some species,
as the Bulrush and Papyrus, reach a respectable size. Tlie
family is of little importance as compared with the Grasses,
although the Egyptian Papyrus was of great value for a num-
ber of purposes in ancient times, and tbe Bulrush and Cotton
Grass are now used in the arts. A few species are esculent or
medicinaL

Cypems, Toom.
diaDdms, Terr.
Nottallii, Torr.

182 JETtftory of Eingham.

denUtm, Torr.
escoleotas, L.
strigosoti L.
filiculmis, VabL

Balicliiiuiit Pen.

spathacenm. Pert.

Eleochaiiiy R. Br.
ovkUl, R. Br.
palostrift, R. Br«
tennisy Scholt
acicolarisy R. Br.

Fimbristylit, Vahl.

aaiumnalis, Rcein. A Schalt.
capillarit, Gray.

8cixpii8y Tomn.

sabterminalis, Torr. Clab-Bush.

EangeDs, VahL
iCQstriSf L.
maritimos, L.
atrovireDBy Mahl.

Xriophomm, L.
cyperioum. Lb

Vr: :«2 t

cypenoum, jl^

VirgiDicum, L. Cotton-grasa.

polystachyoDy L.

Xhynchotpora, VaU.

alba, Vahl. Beak-Rusb. .
glomerata, YaU.

Carez,Lb

follicalata, L.

iDtumescens, Radge.

lupulina* MuhL

lurida, Wahl.

Pseudo-Cvperas, L. ror. AmericaDa HochsL

scabrata, Scliw.

▼estita, WilldL

riparia, W. Curds.

filiformis, L. var, latifolia, Boeckl.

stricta, Lam. var. angustata, Bailey.

stricta, Lam. var. decora, Bailey.

crinita, Lam.

viresceDs. MuhL

dehilis, Mx. var. Rudgei, Bailey.

gracillima, Schw.

f ava, L.

pallesceni, L.

oonoidea, Schk.

laxiflora, Lam.

laxiflora. Lam. var, patullfolia, Carey*

laxiflora, Lam. var. striatala, Carey.

platyphylla, Carey.

{

tikmmtimM^mtmM^m^

The Baian^ qf Bingham. 188

panieea^ JL

TeDDsylvanica, LaoL

varia, MahL

stipata, MahL

valpinoidea, Mx,

rofea, Schk.

muricatcLj L,

Muhleubergii, Sdch.

echiData, Murr. var. cephalantha, Bafle^.

ediinata, Marr. var. microttadiji, BoewL

canesoens, L.

trisperma, Dewej.

bromoides, Schk.

sooparia, Schk.

*1* AX1

silicea, Oloej.

Btraminea, Willd. var. aperta» Boott.

stramiDeay Willd. var, foBDea, Toir.

90. GRAMINXLS. (GbASB FaXILT.)

An order of plants growing all over the world, but most previa
lent in the temperate zones/ where thej cover the ground with a
low turf. In the tropics they rise to the stature of trees, as in
the bamboos, and grow in an isolated manner, never forming a
turf. This family, of about four thousand species, is of all the
orders of plants the most useful to man. It comprehends all tlie
grains, the farinaceous seeds of which form a chief part of human
food, and the grasses furnish a very great proportion of the fodder
upon which cattle live. Sugar is the product of a grass. The
malt, and many spirituous liquors are made from fruit of some of
the species. Many are used in the arts and a few yield oil.

Only one species has been supposed to be poisonous, and the
best authorities consider the supposition erroneous.

Faspalnm, L. . .

setaceum, Mx.

Panicnm, L.
filiforme, L.
glabrunij Gaudin,
sanguinale^ L. Crab-gra8S.
agrostoides, MahL
proliferum. Lam.
capillare, L.
virgatum, L.
latifoliam, L.
clandestinum, L.
dichotomom, L.

numerous varieties,
depauperatum, MahL
Orut-galli, L. Barn-yard Grass.

184 nUtary qf Himgham,

Setaria, Beanr.

glauea, Beawf. FoztuL
viridU^ Beauv. Botde GnM.

Cenehniiy L.

tribcdcHdes, Lb Hedgehog-Gnai.

Spartina, Schreh.

cjnosuroides, WQlcL Marsh Graaa.

jimoea, Willd.

stricta. Both. var. glabra, Graj.

Hiawlai GroDOT.

aquatica,L. Wild Koe.

Leenia, Swarti.

oryzoides, Sw. White Grass.

Andropogon, Bojen.

fait^os, MuhL Beard Grass.
scoparioSy Mr.
macrooms, Mt, Bare.

Chxysopogon, Trio*

natansy Benth. Broom Com.

Anthoxanthiim, Lb

odaratum^ L, Sweet Vernal Grass.

Eierochloe, GmeL

borealisi Boem. Sc Schult. H0I7 Grass.

Alopeenms, L.

pratensis^ L. Meadow Foxtail.
genietilatuif L. Floating FoxtaiL
geniculatui var. aristnlatnSt Mx.

Aristida, L. Poverty Grass.
dicbotoma, Bfx.
gracilis, ^ESL
purparascens, Poir. Bars.

Oryzopsis, Mx.

asperifolia, Mx. Moontidn ^oe.

Hnhlenbergia, Schreb.

capillaris, Konth. Hiur Grass. Bare.

Brachyelytmm, Beanr.
aristatum, BeanT.

Phlenm, L.

pratense^ JL Herd*s Grass.

Sporobolns, B. Br.

asper, Kunth. Bush Grass.

va^nsflorus, Vasey.

serotinus. Gray. Drop-seed Grass.

Agrostis, L.

perennans. Tuck. Thin Bent Grass.

scabra, Willd. Hur Grass.

alba, L. White Bent Grass.

albOf L^ var. vulgaris, Thurb. Bed Top.

The Botany qf Hingham. 186

Calamagrottii, Adans.

CaDadennis, Beauv. Blae Joint 6]
Nuttalliana, Stead*

Ammopliila, Host

aruDdiuaoea, Host. Sea Sand Beed.

Cinna, L.

arundiDacea, L. Wood Reed Grast.

Seschampsia, BeauT.

flexuosa, Triiu Hair Grass.

Holcns, L.

lanatuty L. Velvet Grass.

Banthonia, D C.

spicata, BeauT. Oat Grass.
compressa, Aostin.

Eragrostis, BeauT.
minor^ Ilo$L
pectioaceay Gr. var^ spectabUis, Gray.

Triodia, R. Br.

purpurea, Hack. Sand Grass.

Fhragmites, Trin.

communis, Trin. Beed. .

Briza, L.

media^ L.

Dactylis, L.

glomeratOj L. Orchard Grass.

Distichlis, Raf.

maritima, Raf. Spike Grass.

Foa, L.

annua, L, Low Spear Grrass.
compressor L. Wire Grass.
serotiDa, Ebrhart. Fowl-meadow Grass.
pratensis, L. Kentucky Blue Grass.
trivxalis^ L, Rough Blue Grass.

Glyceria, R. Br.

Canadensis, Trin. Rattlesnake Grass.

obtu&a, Trin.

nervata, Trin.

pallida, Trin.

fluitaus, R. Br.

acutiflora, Torr.

Fnccinellia, ParL
distans, Pari,
maritima, ParL

Festnca, L.

tenella, Willd. Fescue Grass.

ovina, L. Sheep's Grass.

elatior, L, var. pratensis, Gray. Tall Grass.

nutans, Willd. Nodding Grass.

AMM

186 Hktary qf Hingham.

■ -V
BromiiSi Ii.

teeaHnuif L, Chest.
nudlit, L. Soft CheM.

MltaK«a T
CHwUlli MM

Agropymm, Gtert

repent, BeaiiT. Quiteh Gntt.

Zlyiiiiit, L.

Yirginicotv L. Lyme Gratt.
ttriatut, WilU.

loliiim, L.

pertnnef Ray or Rye Gratt.

CRYPTOGAMOUS or FLOWERLESS PLANTS.

91. BQUI8BTACZL2B. (HOBSETAIL FaMILT.)

A family of one genus, growing on wet or low grounds. The
fossil remains found in coal deposits, show that these plants were
once of enormous size, and formed a large part of the original plant
life of tlie globe ; but the few species which exist now comprise
low, simple, or in some cases branched plants, leafless, and hav-
ing jointed hollow stem& They abound in silex, and are used
somewhat in the arts.

Eqxiitetnm, L.

arveDse, L. HortetaiL
sylvaticam, L.

92. FiucES. (Ferns.)

One of our most beautiful orders of plants which, in the early
history of the globe, formed a very considerable part of its flora.
They were of great size, and our vast coal-fields are largely com-
posed of the fossil remains of ferns. With us they are low and
slender, but in warmer regions they attain the size of small
trees.

Polypodiiim, Lb

▼ulgare, L. Polypody.

Pterit, L.

aqoiliDa, L. Brake.

Woodwardia, Smith.

Yirginica, Smith. Chain Fern.
aDgottifolia, Smith.

Atpleninm, L.

Trichomanet, L. Spleen-wort,
ebeneom, Ait.
FeUx-foBmina, Bernh.

The Botany 6/ Hingham. 187

Fhegopteris, F^

hexagouoptera, F^ Beech Fern.

Aspidinm, Sw.

Tbelypteris, SwarU. Shield Fern.
Novcboracense, Swarts.
spinulosmn, Swarts.
cristatum, Swarts.
marginale, Swarts.
acrosticboidesy Swarts.

Cystopteris, Bernh.

fragills, Bernh. Bladder Fern.

Onoclea, Lb

sensibilis* L. Sensitive Fern. '

Dicksonia, L'H^r.

pilosiuscula, Willd.

Osmunda, L.

regalis, L. Flowering Fern.

ClaytoDiaoa, L.

cinDamomea, L. Gnnamon Fern.

93. oPHioaLOSSACxuB. (AdderVTongue Faxilt.)

The plants of this order have the general characters of the
Filices, but di£Fer in some structural peculiarities, for which they
have been placed in a separate order. The Botrichium tematum
is a beautiful species.

Botrichium, Sw.

teriiatuDiy Sw. Moonwort.
several varieties.

Ophioglossum, L.

vulgatum, L. Adder's Tongae.

94. LTCOPODIACEJB. (CLnB-Mo.SS FaHILT.)

An order of low, creeping, moss-like, evergreen plants ; but in
the early ages of the world this family contained many of gigan-
tic size. Some species are emetic, but otherwise their properties
are unimportant. The powder (spores) contained in the spore-
cases is highly inflammable and is used in the manufacture of
fireworks. •

Lycopodium, L.

iucidulum, Mz. Clob-moss.
obscurum, L. Ground Pine,
davatum, L. Club-moHS.
oomplanatum, L. Spreading-moss.
annotiDQin, L.

JHJ^riMiliiaiattai^iidAiiiifciaiiiaa^^ ■ 1 i Hin iJiMiiM^MBiM i ii n i iii f ii r

188 History of Hingham,

95. SBZiAOINBLLACBa

Low, leafy, moss-like or marsh plants, differing from the dub-
mosses in ha?ing two kinds of sporea

Sdaginella, Beanr.
ropestiis, Spring.

THE TREES AND SHRUBS OP HINGHAM

BT EDWARD T. BOUV&

The beauty of the natural scenery of Hingham, extremely diver-
sified as it is by hill and valley, pond and stream, and by its long
and varied coasUine, is greatly enhanced by the extent and vari-
ety of its woodlands.

Standing on some of the highest hills, the picture spread out to
the view in various directions is that of a sea of verdure, stretch-
ing to the far horizon, as impenetrable to the vision as the virgin
forest tliat covered the land like a shadow when the pilgrims &st
set foot on the darkly wooded shore of this county.

These woodlands are rich in the number of species, and add a
corresponding variety to the landscape at all seasons. In winter
and early spring the purplish-gray masses form a picturesque
background to the snowy fields, except where these are fringed
by dark evergreens. They vary in their summer dress from the
black-grcen of the savins to the brilliancy of the oaks that reflect
the flashes of sunbeams from their polished foliage. In autmnn
they light up the liillsides with colors of fire.

But not alone do the continuous woods interest the^observer.
Individual trees remarkable for size and symmetry are not rare;
and the wild hedge-rows along fences or old stone-walls, as well
as the clumps and thickets in the fields, are made up of shmbs
and woody plants whose very existence, conspicuous as many of
these are in their flower, fruit, or foliage, is no more recognized
than is their beauty appreciated by the great majority of people
who spend a lifetime side by side with them.

A scries of rambles over the hills, through the woods, by the
meadow-bordered streams and along the seashores of Hinghami
will always well repay

**him who in the love of Nature holds
CommuDioD with her yisible formft."

The woody plants of New England embrace nearly two hundred
and fifty species. Of these, there are indigenous to Hingham
about half that number.

In all parts of the town grows that always beautiful shrub, the
Barberry (^Berberis vulyarUj L.).

140 Hislory of Singhanu

It prefers the hillsides, although very fine specimens are found
in rough, swampy land. Its delicate racemes of fragrant yellow
flowers in the spring-time, its rich foliage through tiic summer,
and brilliant clusters of scarlet fruit in autumn, make it at all
seasons one of the most ornamental wild shrubs.

The American Linden (TVZia Americana^ L.) grows all along
the water line of Hingham from Weymouth River and Huit's
Gove, where there are many fine specimens, at intervals on the
shores of the inner harbor, and plentifully on the borders of the
pretty inlets and coves of Weir River Bay. Although also found
mland, it much prefers the immediate neighborhood of the sea.

The Amebican Hollt (Ilex opaca^ Ait.) grows most plenti-
fully in the woods of the eastern part of Hingham. although it
occurs also elsewhere occasionally, notably at Turkey Hill and
near Old Colony Hill. This tree is always brilliant, its shining,
polished leaves, armed with spines, being even more noticeable in
the winter woods than they are when new and fresh in summer.
The small, white flowers are not showy, but the scarlet berries
form a striking contrast to the evergreen foliage in the winter.

The Black Alder (^Ilex verticillata^ Gray). This plant grows
everjirhere in Hingham, preferring low, wet lands. Its flowers,
small and white, are in crowded clusters in the axils of leaves.
The brilliant scarlet fruit is the cause of the beautiful display
which this shrub makes, all along roadsides in low grounds, and
in swamps, through the fall and early winter.

The Single-berry Black Alder (i?ex laevigata^ Gray) grows
in Hingham in the deep swamps of the southern borders of tlie
town. It differs from the I. verticillata in having more slender
and delicate leaves, and larger, scarcer, and more orange-colored
berries. The sterile flowers are on long peduncles.

The Ink Berrt (Hex glabra^ Gray) is found on the high lands
of Union Street, Third Division woods, and rarely in the south-
ern woods of the town. It is one of the most elegant of shrubs ;
and is from two to six feet in height, having brightly polished,
narrow, evergreen leaves, and shining, black berries. The flowers
are white, small, and inconspicuous, as in the other species of
Hex.

Mountain Holly (^Nemopanthes fascievlari$y Raf.). An ele-
gant shrub, with bluish-green leaves on purple or crimson leaf-
stalks. The flowers are white, the fruit crimson-red berries on
long red peduncles. It grows in the deeply wooded swamps of
South Hingham^ and at Turkey Hill and Lasell Street woods.

-«fiap

•f

/ I

Ti.

'5--. - ''

^■^ St I *•'-*

.. .^ ... ■i«^^>^^WVi^>^.»>^*>^

iiMJi

The Trees and Shrube qf HinghanL 141

Nature^s Waxwork (^Celaetrue ecandene^ L.) is common in
many parts of the town^ although it seems to prefer the approxi-
mate neighborhood of the sea. It is a pretty climber, deriving its
po{)ular name from the brilliant and artificial character of its red
and yellow f ruiL

The Buckthorn (^Rhamnue eathartiea, L.) grows sparingly in
Hingham. It may be found at Turkey Hill and ThiM Division
woods, possibly elsewhere growing wild, besides being cultivated
somewhat for hedges.

Jersey Tea (Ceanotkiie Amerieanue^ L.). This pretty little
shrub occurs in Lincoln Street woods, toward Huit's Cove, in the
woods southeast of Old Colony Hill, at Peck's Pasture, Stoddard's
Neck, and probably elsewhere. Tlie plant has a special interest^
from having been used as tea during the Revolutionary war.

The Wild Grape is represented in Hingham by two species,
the Common or Fox Grape (^VUie labruseaj L.), and the more
delicate Summer Grape ( Vitis cestivalU^ Michx.) with its compact
bunches of very small berries. This is more rare than the labrueeOj
occurring in tlie woods between Old Colony Hill and Weir River,
as well as in Third Division, Union Street, and Lasell Street
woods, and probably elsewhere in town. But the lairusea is
found everywhere, and with its rapid growth covers the swampy
woods with a tropical luxuriance of rich foliage, while its small
and inconspicuous flowers in the spring, and dark purple or amber
clusters of fruit in autumn fill the air with delicious fragrance.
' The Woodbine (Ampelopsis quinquefoUa^ Michx.) grows in
every part of the township. Finest among our climbing vines, in
summer covering in careless profusion of foliage the gray rock, or
hanging in delicate festoons from tall trees, its strongly individual
leaves, rcsemblinjic somewhat an irrej^^lar, five-pointed star, render
it conspicuous. But in the fall, flung with Nature's inimitable
grace like a scarlet mantle around the cone of a savin, its younger
sprays fringing here and there the fl.ame-colored masses, there
is no more striking contrast in tlie woodlands than its brilliancy
and the black-green of the cedar. The deep blue of its corymbed
berries adds variety to the picture.

The Maple family is represented in Hingham by the Red
Maple {Acer rubrum^ L.), which grows everywhere in low and

142 History of Hingham.

swampy lands, whfle it also flourishes on uplands. It is a hand-
some tree, conspicuous in the fall through the bright uniform red
of its leaves.

The SuGAB Maple (^Acer saeehartnum^ Wang.) is also indigenous
to this region, although the fact of its being so is not generally
known. It grows, and specimens of large size are now standing,
near the Cohasset line. This species, which is cultivated every-
where in town as an ornamental tree, is always one of our most
beautiful shade-trees. Bright and healthy in foliage all through
the summer, in autumn nothing can exceed its beauty, the leaves
turning red, scarlet, and yellow, these colors often mingling in
patches with the bright green on individual leaves. The forests
m the North, when made up mainly of the Sugar Maple, exhibit a
splendor unparalleled elsewhere in the world.

The plants of the Rhus family are very common all over the
township, and on one or two of the islands. The Staghorn
Sumac (Ithu9 typhina^ L.), its leaves coarser, and like the branch-
lets and deep crimson fruit, very velvety-hairy, and the Smooth
Sumac (Rhxu glabra^ L.) with leaves, branches, and scarlet fruit
smooth, are found everywhere. The smaller and more delicate
Dwarf Sumac {Rhus eopallina^ L.) grows east of the Old Colony
Hill and in various other localities. It is a beautiful species, by
no means so common as the preceding.

The Poison Dogwood (Rnm venenata^ D G ), a delicate low
tree, is common in swamps everywhere; and the Poison Ivt
(^RhuB Toxicodendron^ L.) grows in great profusion. No family
of woody plants presents a more showy beauty of foliage at ail
seasons than this. In the gorgeous apparel of autumn, the Rhus
is particularly conspicuous, and of all the species, the most bril-
liant is the dangerous Poison Dogwood.

LEOUMINOS^I.

This order has but one representative among our woody plants ;
the Common Locust (Robinia pseudacaciay L.). The Locust grows
on Lincoln Street, Kilby Street, at Rocky Nook, and elsewhere.
Its delicate foliage and long racemes of fragrant white flowers
would make it one of the most desirable of our ornamental trees
but for the ravages of the worm which honeycombs its very hard
and tough wood, and often destroys its beauty at an early age.

This large order in its subdivisions is very fully represented in
ineham. f

The Beach Plum (Prunuz maritima^ Wang.) still exists on

I%e Trees and Shrube of Bingham. 14S

the westerly slope of Peck's Pasture, near the water, and prob-
ably grew formerly all along oar beaches and shores. It may
possibly be found now in some such localities, although it has b&>
come very rare. The best specimen known to have been lately
standing, was growing a few years since near the steamboat^land-
ing on Summer Street. It has unfortunately been destroyed.

The American Red Cherry {Prunue Pennsylvaniea^L.!.) grows-
in nearly every part of the town. It is a low tree, distinguished
by its red bark, small, red, translucent fruit, and narrow leaves,
the two semi-blades of which double toward one another, forming
an angle with the midrib. The flowers of this spedes in favorable
locations are very large and showy, and their beauty ought to lead
to its cultivation as an ornamental tree.

BuLLACE Plum {Prunus spinosaj L. var. insititia^ This is a
variety of the Sloe or Black Thorn, being a shrub with thomj
branches, sharply serrate, ovate-lanceolate, somewhat pubescent
leaves. It is very rare in Hingham, having been found on Weir
River Lane.

The Choke Cherry {Prunue Virgtntana^ L.) is also common*
It is a shrub or low tree, distinguishable from the Black Cherry by
the peculiar serraturcs of the leaf, which are fine, sharp, and bend
forward toward the apex. Its flowers also, are larger and more
showy, and the very astringent property of its conspicuous and
handsome fruit is familiar to every one.

The Black Cherry (Prunus serotina^ Ehrh.) is found every*
where in Hingham as a low shrub, as well as among our larg^
and finest trees. It grows to an immense size, although the
wholesale destruction of our forests and individual trees has
unhappily left but very few specimens of even respectable dimen-
sions in this region.

Of the Spiraeas, the Meadow Sweet {Spircea ealietfoliaj L.) and
Hardhack or Steeple Bush (Spircea tomentona^ L.) are beautiful
denizens of our meadows. The Meadow Sweet grows sometimes
to the height of six feet, and its fragrant white or rose-tinted
blossoms and pretty delicate foliage make it an ever welcome
midsummer and fall flower. Its cousin, the Hardhack, is one of
our most common plants in low grounds, its tapering spike, cov-
ered with rose-colored bloom, showing all along fence-rows and oa
hummocks in the meadows.

Wild Red Raspberry (^Rultu gtrigostiSj Michx.). Common at
rocky roadsides and in clefts of rocks. A plant hard to distin-
guish from the Thimblcberry, except when in fruit.

Thimbleberry {Riihus occidentalism L.). Common everywhere
in fence-rows and thickets. The fruit purplish-black, while that
of the Raspberry is red. The stems are covered with a heavier
(bluish-white) bloom than those of the Raspberry.

Common High Blackberry QEubue villom^j Ait). This plant
is very common, the coarse, thorny stems reaching a height of

144 HisioTjf of Bingham.

eight or nine feet in favorable situations, such as damp ditches
bj roadsides. The white blossoms are very conspicuous. The
fruit is firm, close-grained, sometimes hardly edible.

LfOW Blackberry (^Rubtu Canadensui^ L.). This is a trailing,
thorny vine, growing in rough fields where the soil is sandy, and
on hillsides in all parts of the town. The fruit is juicy and
agreeable.

Running Swamp Blackberry {RubuM hispidus^ L.). A delicate,
pretty species, with shining leaves, found in marslics and damp^
woods. The fruit is sour, and of a red or purple color. Quite
common.

The Swamp Rose {Rosa Carolina^ L.). This is the common
wild rose of our swampy lands. It is often, in wet places, a very
tall plant, rising sometimes to the height of seven or eiglit feet.
The deeply pink flowers grow in corymbs, and the fruit, scarlet
and bristly, is very brilliant in the fall. The leaflets are dull
above and pale beneath.

The Dwarf Wild Rose (^Rona lucidoy Ehrhart) is common, but
on higher grounds, or the border of meadows, growing usually
about two feet in height. The leaves are shining above and
sharply serrate.

The *' Sweet Brier'' of song and story (Rosa ru&t^tnota, L.).
Tliis beautiful rose, its branches thickly set with hooked bristles
and thorns, grows all through Hingliam, mostly in neglected pas-
tures or quiet woods. Its flowers, smaller and paler than those
of the Carolina^ and the sweetness of its foliage, which fills the
air about it with fragrance, arc its distinguishing characteristics.

The Choke Berry {Pyrus arhutifolia^ L.), wliich grows almost
everywhere in the swamps and low lands, is a beautiful shrub.
The bright, shining, finely serrate leaves, the white and pink frar
grant flowers, and the clusters of dark crimfion fruit (tasting very
much more astringent than the Choke Cherry) mark this plant at
all seasons.

The White or Scarlet-fruited Thorn {Crataegus coccinea^ L.).
This handsome shrub or small tree grows in tlie fields and woods
bordering Lincoln Street, especially north of Thaxter Street, at
• Stoddard's Neck, at Peck's Pasture, and elsewhere. It is con-
spicuous for its bright, shining leaves, rusty-s|K)tted from a fungus
which attacks them early in the season, its fragrant white flowers,
brilliant, scarlet, pear-8hai)ed fruit, a little larger than a cranberry,
and its sharp, rigid thorns.

The Shad Bush (^Amelanchier Canadensis^ Torrey & Gray), in
its two varieties, the small tree and the low shrub, grows in all
our woods and along walls and fences. Its showy white, fragrant
flowers, appearing just as the leaves are starting, in May, cover
the branches so densely as to make it appear at a distance as if
loaded with snow. A propensity of the tall variety is to grow
close to larger trees, supported by them. It rarely appears
standing alone and perfectly erect.

146 JSistorjf qf Hingham.

The Panicled Cornel (Comus panieulata^ U Hcriticr) grows at
Hocklej, Stoddard's Neck, and on Lincoln Street Its leaves,
finer and darker than in anj other of our species, and its more
delicate growth, plainly distinguish it The white flowers are
somewhat panicled, and the fruit white.

The leaves of the preceding species are all opposite. Those of
the Alternate-leaved Cornel {Comus aUemifolia^ L. f.) are
mostly alternate, and crowded at the ends of the branches, which
are also alternate, that is, not opposite each other on the trunk or
limbs. This is a shrub or small tree, of a very elegant appearance,
growing in all parts of Hingham. The white flowers are in broad
cymes, the fruit deep blue.

The Tupelo {Ny$$a sylvatiea^ Marah.) is very common. It is
in every way beautiful, its brilliant polished foliage, dark-green in
summer and of a rich red in autumn, rendering it conspicuous.
Either growing singly or in clumps, it is very noticeable, especially
after the fall of the leaves, for its peculiaritv in having the numer-
ous branches start from the main trunk or limbs at a right angle^
and tend more or less downward.

The Trumpet Honeysuckle {Lanicera sempervtrens^ Ait), so
much cultivated for its beauty, grows wild in the woods on the
easterly slope of Old Colony Hill, and elsewhere, although it has
probably been introduced from more southern localities.

Common Elder (^Samhucus Canadensi9, L.). Tliis plant grows
everywhere in low grounds. Its large cymes of white fragrant
-flowers are conspicuous in early summer, and later in tlie season
the blackish-])urple fruit is no less showy in its way.

The Red-berried Elder (^Samlucun racemosaj L.), a beautiful
plant, is very rare in Ilinghsun. Tlie white flowers of this species
are in panicles, and are replaced by bright red berries.

Sweet Viburnum (^Viburnum LentafjOy L.). This plant has
been found everywhere in damp situations and swampy woodlands.
It is, like all the viburnums, a beautiful shrub, with its bright

?;reen finely serrate leaves, fragrant white flowers, and sweet edible
ruit A specimen growing east of Old Colony Ilill has attained
a diameter of trunk of five to six inches.

Withe-rod ( llfmmiun cassinoides, L.). This shrub grows in
the woody swamps of the south and west parts of Hingham, par-
ticularly in Lasell and Gardner streets, and is found also more
sparingly in other localities. This species is distinguished from
the other viburnums by having entire leaves, with wavy or revolute
edges, the others all having sharply serrate leaves.

Arrow-wood QVilurnum dentatumj L.). The Arrow-wood is
common in low grounds everywhere. Its very deeply toothed
leaves and long straight stalks distinguish it The Indians were
said to use its twigs for arrows ; hence the name.

,' i

n# Drm$ wad 8hmb$ ^ HmghawL 147

Mapl&leated Abbow-wo(H> ( Vibwnmm mp^Mwm^ hX Thk
pretty litUe shrub Is the smallest of our Tlbiiniiims, aUhoii|^ ife
occasionallj grows to a hei|^ of six feet sod upwards. The
white blossom is very delicute. Its leaves, excepting: fliose at the
apex of the stalks, are so like those of the red msple that dose
examination is often necessary to distingidsh them. The maple
leaves, however, are smooth, whUe these are SMiewhst wodllj on
the under side.

All the viburnums turn in the fall to a veiy brilliant crimson
color.

BusH-HoNETsuOKUB iDUrwHU tr^fd^f Mbendi). Tliis low,
elegant, but rather inconraienous dirub is wr rare in Hingh a m ,
occurring at flop-Pole ffiu, and possiUy in the western part of
the town.

Button-Bush {CepJManiku9 oeeidmiattB^ hX This shrub mwp
along water-courses and on the banks of ponos in all parte of the
town. Its peculiar spherical heads of white flowers, very thiddljr
set, render it conspicuous at time of bloomings

The little trailing Partridob Bbbbt (l E t e Mla ftpwu^ L.), widi
its fragrant white flowers, single or in pairs, and bririit seailet
berries and evergreen leaves* grows in toe Bockland Street and
Cedar Street wocMb, as well as in a few otficr places Although
but a little vine, running upon rocks or the ground, it belongs to.
the woody planto.

Daxgleberut ( Qayluuaeia fnmdo$a^ T. A OX This dumb ia
not very common, oltliough observed in severd localities, notaUy
in the woods between Old Colony Hill and Weir River. It ia
two to five feet high with us, having long, oval leaves, grootidi
flowers, and dark-blue sweet berries m loose racemes.

The Huckleberry {Qaylu$8aeia rettnoio, T« A O.) grows
everywhere, preferring rough pasture-lands and rockj hillsides.
It may be distinguished by the resinous deposit on the under aur*
face of the leaves, which is much greater in this spedes than in
any other ; and by its jct4ilack, shining fruit Tory rardj the
fruit is found white. The flower is radish.

Dwarf Blueberry ( Vaeeinlum Pcnn%yloameHm^ Lamarck).
This pretty little blueberry grows in Soutii Hindiam, in tte
woods east of Old Colony Hill, and doubtless elsewhere. It is a
very low shrub, with small, finely seirate leaves, and furnishes
tfie earliest blueberries found in the city markets.

Low Blueberry ( Vaceinium vaeiUan%^ Solander)* This little
straggling, low bush is one of our blueberries. It may be dia-
tinguished by the color of the twigs and branches, which is green,
instead of dark, like that of the other species. It is rather com*
mon, existing at South Hingham, Weir River woods east of Old
Colony Hill, and elsewhere.

148 HUtory qf Hingham.

Common or Swamp Blueberbt (^Vaceinium eorymhotwnj L.).
This, a high-bash whortleberrj, has a number of varieties for*
merly considered as separate species. It varies greatly in our
woods and swamps, wliere it grows freely. Its bell4ike white
blossom is, in some varieties and in certain favorable locations,
quite large, and in other cases very small. The foliage also differs
according to locality.

Labge or Amkrican Cranberry ( Vaeeinium maeroearponj Al-
ton). The Cranberry grows quite commonly in our swamps and
bogs, its delicate sprays being quite easily found when loaded with
its white flowers or crimson fruit.

Mountain Partridge Berry (Chiogenes serpyllifoliaj Salis.).
A pretty, evergreen, creeping plant, very rare, but existing in
swamps in the extreme southerly part of the town. The bell-
shaped white flowers arc like those of the chcckerberry, and a
resemblance to this shrub is also found in the flavor of its white
berries.

Bearberry (Arcto8tapht/Ios tir<i-iir«t, Sprengel). This pretty
and rare little shrub, which grows in beds in the woods, has been
found by the writer between Old Colony Hill and Weir River, at
Martin's Lane, and at Liberty Plain. Its stem trails under the
dead leaves and leaf mould, sending up shoots some six inches
high, clothed with bright, polished, thick evergreen leaves. The
flowers are white, at the ends of the branches. The fruit is a red
berry.

Trailing Arbutus, 5Ia yflower {Epigcea repensy L.). The well-
known Mayflower grows in the woods near the Weymouth line
^and in the extreme south pai*t of the town. Efforts made to
domesticate it nearer the seashore have been unsuccessful, as it
is a very wild plant and does not take well to cultivation.

Creeping Winteugreen, Checkerberry (^Gaultherla procuwr
henSy L.). The Chcckerberry is very common in our woods. Its
bright evergreen leaves, sweet white flowers, and scarict aromatic
berries are well known to all.

Andromeda {Andromeda h'r/ti$trinaj Muhl.). Tliis shrub is
common everywhere in low grounds. Its very full panicles of
small, globular, white flowers in July are replaced later by cor-
responding clusters of the seed-vessels, which hang on for a year
or more. This plant can be distinguished at all seasons by its
thin outer layer of light, cinnamon-colored bark, which seems
always just ready to peel off.

Leucothoe {Leucothoe racemona^ Gray). This beautiful shrub
IS rare in Hingham and but little known. It is found in the
woods east of Old Colony Hill, in Cushing Street, in Leavitt
Street woods, and ])robably grows elsewhere in the south part of
the town. It is from six to ten feet in height, has rather strag-
gling branches, and elliptical leaves, and long one-sided racemes
of white, bell-like flowers, exquisite in beauty and fragrance. This
raceme is generally branched once, and the flowers all hang

7%e Tree$ and ShrtA$ qf Hingham. 149

downward in a regular row. Their peculiar honey-like sweetnesB
is unequalled by the perfume of any other of our^ants.

Leather-Leaf ( Ca9$andra ealyctdatOj Don). The Cassandra or
Leather-leaf grows in the swamps near Weir River west of Union
Street and at South Hingham. It is a bright, pret^ shrub^ two
to five feet high, and has racemes of white sweet flowers much
like those of the Leucothoe, but smaller. The fruit, as in many
plants of the Heath family, is very persistent.

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia lati/olia^ L.). The Mountain Laurel,
exquisite in its l>eauty, is found in great quantities just over the
borders of Hinghara, but within the limits of the township it is
rare. It grows in one locality at least in the woods near Giurdner
Street, in Gushing Street woods, and perhaps may be found
elsewhere.

Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angu9t\folia^ L.). This plant, the
blossom of which is not less beautiful, if less conspicuous, than
the preceding species, is common all through Hingham.

The Clammy Azalea or White Swamp Honeysuckle (Rhodo^
dendron viscotsum^ Torr.) grows in the wet woods of Summer
Street, Martin's Lane, Lasell Street, and Turkey Hill, and is
found also in other localities. Its pretty, white, very fragrant,
and somewhat sticky flowers appear in conspicuous clusters and
are of that trumpet-like shape common to tiic azalea tribe.

Rhodora (Rhododendron BJiodora^ Dow^. This beautiful plant
is very rare iu this region, being found only in a peaty bog i^ the
west end, and possibly occurring in the swamps of the south part
of Hingham. Its delicate, rose-colored blossoms, appearing veij
early, are among the most exquisite of our wild flowers.

White Aldkr (^Clethra alnifoUa^ L.). The Clethra inhabits all
our swampy woods, and is well known from its upright racemes
of white fragrant flowers, which are conspicuous from the latter
part of July even into October.

Privet or Prim (^Lijustrum vxdgare^ L.). This shrub, much
used for hedges, grows wild at Martin's Lane, Lincoln Street
woods, Huit's Cove, Turkey Hill, and Stoddard's Neck. Its fine,
frcsh-lookin;^ foliage, white flowers, and black berries are familiar
to all observers.

White Ash (^Fraximis Americana^ L.). This noble tree is
common in the swampy woods, and as an ornamental tree all over
town. One of the noblest specimens in this State was standing
until 1869 in the field on the corner of Summer and East streets,
opposite the residence of the late Deacon Gorham Lincoln. This
tree was mentioned by Emerson in the " Report on the Trees and
Shrubs of Massachusetts." It measured when he described it, in
1839, four feet two inches in diameter at four and a half feet from
the ground. A tornado, in September, 1869, destroyed it

160 irUtory of

Bed Ash {Fraxinus pubeseen$j Lam.). The Bed Ash, more
rare than the white, is found in swamps on Bockland Street and
probably grows elsewhere in town. It may be distinguished from
the other species by its pubescence and its narrower leaves and
sharper keys or seed-vessels.

Black Ash (^Fraxinut sambucifolia^ Lam.). This tree, rare in
Hingham, occurs in swamps in Gushing Street and south of the
Old Colony Hill. It grows very tall and slender, and the buds are
conspicuously black«

Sassafras (^Sa$$afra8 officinale^ Nees.). Tlie pleasant aromatic
Sassafras is very common. It is a fine tree, with peculiar leaves, .
some being regularly lobed, others formed like a mitten, with a
sort of extra lobe on one side. Its green blossoms are not showy.
The leaves, bark, and especially the root, are highly spicy.

Spice-Bush (^Lindera oemoin^ Meisncr). This plant grows near
water-courses and in low lands in various parts of the town. It
is a beautiful shrub, with a handsome bark, and brilliant shining
leaves which exhale a pungent, spicy odor on being Crushed. The
small vellow blossom is followed by the bright scarlet fruit, some-
thing like a small cranberry in shape.

"DRTICACRS.

The White Elm (^Ulmxm Americana^ L.) is one of our noblest *
trees, and grows in all kinds of soil, everywhere, but prefers
swamps. Among the finest specimens in town are the elm at
Bocky Nook, a magnificent and very symmetrical tree, the noble
Cusliing elm on Main Street a few rods south of Broad Bridge, -
and the tree in front of the Gay estate at West Hingham. The
variety of growth in trees standing alone on wet meadows,
leading to their being called "wine-glass elms,*' is extremely
beautiful and graceful. Some of these may be seen on the river
banks at Bocky Nook.

Tlie Nettle Tree (Celtit occidentalism L.) grows on the turn-
pike on the westerly slope of Baker's Hill and at Stoddard's
Neck ; also near New Bridge and Cross streets. It is rare. The
very singular twisted and gnarled habit of growth which some
specimens exhibit is peculiar to the species. Its flower is very
inconspicuous; the fruit a small olive-green berry on a long
stem.

BuTTOKWOOD or Sycamore {Platanus occidenialin^ L.). This
tree grows sparingly in all parts of the town. Its ragged, flaky
bark, its large leaves, and the rigid character of its growth
strongly mark it. Some very imposing specimens of this species

^^ ♦ ■ .

I ■

^*i

'^-^-^-- T I

/v- -^

■■A ' ^''""Ji •-- ^"^

OLD £LxM, EAST STREET.

The TreB$ and Shrubi of Hingham. 151

•

stand in various localities, although the injury sustained by the
Buttonwoods some forty years ago, generally ascribed to the
severity of a winter, has caused an apparent feebleness in
these trees. For many years they bore no fruit, but of late
they have matured the curious spherical balls of seed Tessels,
which, some inch and a half in diameter, hang from the twi^
on stems three to six inches long. One of &e finest trees in
town stands at the junction of Mam and Leavitt streets on the
Lower Plain.

The Hickories are well represented in Hingham.

The Shagbark (Carya alba^ Nutt) is quite common, being met
with in nearly all our woods. Its ragged, shaggy bark gives the
species its name, while its rich, meaty nuts have been sought bj
the schoolboy from time immemoriaL The Mockebnut (Corya
tomeiitona^ Nutt.) is a fine tree, found everywhere in the woods, as
is also the Pignut (^Carya porcina^ Nutt), the outline of the busk
of the nut of which has a not inapt resemblance to a pig's bead.
The BiTTERNUT (Carya amara^ Nutt) is more rare. It grows at
Crow Point, Planter's Hill, and Union Street, possibly elsewhere.
Its yellow buds and finer foliage, as well as the thinness of the
busk of the nut, distinguish it from the other hickories.

Bayberry, Wax Myrtle (Myriea eerifera^ LS). This beaulifol
shrub, from two to ten feet high, is very common. The delicious
aromatic odor of its crushed leaves, and in the fall the crowded
masses of round, small, waxy fruit, clinging to the twigs, are its
peculiarities.

Sweet Fern (^Myriea asplenifolia, Endl.). This pretty, low
shrub is very common on dry hillsides and in oak woods. It has
long, narrow, regularly and deeply cut leaves, resembling the
fronds of a fern. These are very aromatic when crushed*

CXTPULIFERJB.

The Black or Sweet Birch {Betula lenta, L.) grows in all oup
Hingham woods, being rarely met with in open fields. The bark
of its twigs is very aromatic. The leaves are thin and ovate, and
sharply serrate. The bark is dark and ragged.

Tlie Yellow Birch (Betula lutea, Michx. f.) is rare in Hingham.
It grows on the border near Cohasset and in Third Division
woods. Its leaves are hardly to be distinguished from those of
the black birch. The bark of the young shoots is slightly
aromatic. The outer bark of the trunk is greenish-yellow,
shininjr, and always peeling off in thin layers. The catkins, op
male blossoms of all the birches are extremely showy and grace*

iirfiimyii

152 Hi$torji of Hinghanu

fal, loaded as they are when ripe with golden pollen. Those of
this species are especially conspicuous. ^

American White Birch {Betula populifoUa^ Ait.)- This, the
common White or Little Gray birch of our woods and fields, is a
slender, sometimes rather tall tree, with thin, white, peeling, outer
bark and very small branches, merely twigs in fact, covering the
tree with their growth. It generally grows in clumps, from old
roots, and the trunk is short lived for th]84*eason; but upon its
bemg cut or blown down new shoots at once succeed it. The
leaves are small, shining, and triangular.

Canoe Birch (^Betula papyrifera^ Marsh.). This tree is rare
now, growing only along the shores of the bay near Crow Point,
at Huit's Cove, and at Broad Cove. Its leaves are thicker and
coarser than those of the other species. The outer bark peels off
in large sheets, is chalky white on the outside layers, the inner
ones pinkish. It was used by the Indians for their canoes. This
is a large and strongly branched tree.

The Speckled Alder (^Abm9 wcana^ Willd.) grows in clumps
along Weir River near Turkey Hill, at South llingham, and else-
where in wet places. It is a tall shrub with sijccklcd bark, and
serrate and deeply cut dark-green leaves.

The Common Alder (^Alnus $errulata^ Ait.) is jn-escnt every-
where on wet lands. It is a high shrub, growing in clumps. Tlie
leaves are shining, roundish, and finely serrate. The male flow-
ers of the Alders are graceful catkins, generally several together,
and appear very early in spring. The scales o]X!n and show at
maturity beautiful golden flowers.

American Hornbeam {Carmntui CaroUnianoy Walt.). This

"tree, the leaves of which arc afinost exactly like those of the )ire-

ceding species, is common in town, preferring low, wet grounds.

It is found at Rocky Nook, Turkey Hill, Lasell Street, and

elsewhere.

The Hop Hornbeam {Oatrya Virginicaj Willd.) grows at Old
Colony Hill, Gushing Street, Huifs Cove, and at many other
points. Its fruit resembles that of the Hop Vine. The wood is
very hard and the trunk often twisted in api>earance.
• Common Hazel (^Con/hts Americana^ Walt.). This plant, gen-
erally growing in shrubby bunches, is found everywhere. It is
one of the first of our shrubs to blossom, putting forth its delicate
catkins in early spring, together with the very small and beauti-
ful female flowers, scattered along the twigs like scarlet stars.
Its nuts are much like those of the Filbert imported for the
market.

The Beaked Hazel {Corylus rostrata^ Ait.) is occasionally met
with in Hingham, growing in Third Division woods, on Kilby
Street, and elsewhere. The leaves and manner of growth are
hardly distinguishable from those of the Common Hazel. It
derives its name from the curved beak or long point which pro-
jects from the husk which encloses the nut.

His Trees and Shrubs of Eingham. 158

The Oak tribe is very fully represented in all the woods and
fields of the township.

The White Oak (Quercus atba, L.) is a noble tree, very conn
men, some of the finest specimens being found on the easterly
slopes of Old Colony Hill and thereabouts. Its light bark, the
bluish-grecn of its round-lobed leaves, and the purplish crimson
of their fall colors easily distinguish itw

Tlie Swamp White Oak (^Querctis bieolor^ Willd.), scraggy
branched, and with a deep rich green leaf with rounded lobes,
grows everywhere in swamps and low lands.

The Chestnut Oak (Querctu prinus^ L.). This tree, with its
variety the Rock Chestnut Oak (a separate species with some
botanists), is very rare, growing only in Thii*d Division woods.
It is a fine tree, although not so large or imposing in appear-
ance as others of the family. Its leaves i*esemble those of the
Chestnut, hence its name.

Chinquapin Oak ( Qncrcus prinoides^ Willd.). This little shrub,
the smallest of the family, rarely reaches five feet in height It
grows on the bank at Broad Cove, and on the border of the salt
meadow on Otis Street south of Broad Cove, and is also found on
the sandy bank on the northerly border of that poilion of the mill-
pond which lies east of Water Street. Its leaves are round-lobed,
very irregular, and its small acorns are beautifully striped with
black.

The Bear Oak (Quercus UUcifoliay Wang.), a shrub usually
five to ton feet high, rarely becomes a small tree of fifteen feet in
height. It grows cast of the Old Colony Hill, on Lasell Street, in
the woods near Weymouth, in the south part of Hingham, and
in some other localities! It has leaves with not very prominent
sharply ]K)intcd lobes terminated with bristles. The acorns are
quite small and symmetrical.

The Scarlet Oak (^Quercus coccinea^ Wang.) grows in all parts
of the town. This species probably crosses with the Black Oak,
in many cases, the typical Black Oak leaf being often found upon
the Scarlet, and that of the Scarlet (which is much more deeply*
cut antl more highly polished) very often appears upon Black
Oak trees. The only certain way of determining the species in
many cases is to cut into the bark. The inner bark of the Scarlet
is pinkish. That of the Black is bright orange or yellow. The
Scarlet is not one of our largest oaks, but is an elegant tree, its
delicate, sliining, sliarply lobed leaves, often cut almost down to the
midrib, turning brilliant red or scarlet in autumn.

The Black or Yellow-barked Oak (Quercus iinctoria^ Bartram)
is a noble, sturdy tree, growing everywhere in Hingham. The
crevices in its bark are black, which gives it the name. The
leaves, sharp-lobed and more or less deeply cut, turn red or crim-
son m the fall.

The Red Oak (^Quercus rubrayh.) is quite common with us.
Some of the noblest trees of this species growing in New England

iMftiiUMyuittittrfii^HiMiilMaiteiMyyu

154 HUtory of HinghauL

stand on East Street opposite Eilby Street. Thej are monumenta
to the owners of the estate upon which they stand, who hare
shown themselves capable of appreciating the magnificence of
these superb monarchs of the forest It is to be devoutly hoped
that the vandalism wliich has destroyed so many fine trees in
Hingham may never appear near the locality where these trees
stand in their sturdy grandeur.

The Red Oak leaves are more regular and less deeply cut than
those of the Black or Scarlet They are sharp-lobcd and turn dull*
red in autumn. The acorn is very large. The inner bark is
reddish.

Chestnut QCa^anea aativa^ Mill. var. Americana). This beau-
tiful tree is rare in Hingham, growing in but two or three locali-
ties, at Beechwoods and elsewhere. A noble specimen formerly
standing on Hersey Street was ruthlessly destroyed a few years
since.

American Beech (^Fagus ferruginta^ Ait.). This fine tree
grows in many localities in Hingham. Its light-colored bark,
sharp-pointed, rigid leaves, dense liabit of growtii, and delicately
beautiful pendulous blossoms easily mark it

The Dwarf Grat Willow (^Salix trtattSj Ait.) may be found
in Third Division woods, on the roadside. It is a small shrub,
hardly two feet in height

Tlie Prairie Willow (^Salix humilis, Marsh.) is a shrub about
_ten feet hif^h,' often much less. It grows in Hingham on Derby
"Street and Gushing Street, very likely elsewhere.

Glaucous Willow {Salix discolorj MuhU. Tliis shrub or small
tree grows everywhere in low grounds. It is our most common
willow. Its blossoms expand from the bud in early spring, first
into what tlie children call "pussy willows," little gray furry
bunches ; then as the season advances, they become long, graceful
catkins, covered with fragrant flowers golden with pollen. There
often are cones at the end of the twigs, composed of leaves abor-
'tivcly developed, and crowded closely one upon another.

Silky Willow (Salix sericea^ Marsh.). This is a beautiful
shrub, growing on Lincoln Street and at many other localities.
The leaves and young branches are covered with a silky down,
which gives this species its distinctive name.

Petioled Willow (Salix petiolarisj Smi th). This shrub, strongly
resembling the previous species, grows on Lincoln Street, and has
been found elsewhere. It is somewhat silky, but its specific
name is derived from its long petioles, or leaf-stalks.

Livid Willow (Salix rostrata^ Richardson). A shrub or small
tree growing on Old Colony Hill, Lincoln Street, on the bank
of the pond at West Hingham, Lasell Street, and perhaps else-
where. It has a rough, dark, thick leaf, whitish underneath.

ITie Treei and Shrubi qf Hingham. 155

Shining Willow {Saliz lueida^ Muhl.). The beautiful shmb
grows ou Lincoln Street and elsewhere in town. The leaf is
large, iK)intcd, bright, and shining.

Black Willow (Saliz nigra^ Marsh.). This graceful tree, with
its very narrow and delicate leaves, grows on Gardner QtreeL It
is very rare in Hingham.

The Myrtle Willow (Salix myrtilloidesj L.) grows in Hing*
liam, although very rare. It is a shrub, from one to three feet in
height

The American Aspen (Papultu tremtdoideMj Michx.) grows in
all the woods of Hingham. It is not a large tree. The small,
bright-green leaves, light underneatli, keep up a continual tremu-
lous motion in the wind. The trunk is light-ash colored, and
smooth in young trees.

The Large Poplar (^Popidiu grandidentaJtOj Michx.) is found
in low lands in all parts of the town. Its leaves are deeply
toothed, and the catkins are very large and coarse.

Balm-op-Gilead {Poptdus haUamifera^ L. var. candicoM^ Gray).
This tree is quite common in Hingham. Its large, very rigid and
sharp buds are covered with a sticky, highly aromatic balsam,
which has been used in medicine.

CONIFEIL2B.

The White Cedar {ChanuBcgparts sphcBroidea^ Spach.) is a
beautiful and very useful tree, growing thickly in swamps near
the Weymouth line and at South Hingham, in several localities.
It is distinguishable from the Red Cedar by the comparative
smoothness of its trunk, smaller branches, the flatness of its scaly
leaves, and the angular character of its fruiL

The Juniper (Junipenis communis^ L.) is a low, spreading shrub,
growing in a dense mass, with foliage very similar to that of the
Savin. It is found at West Hingham, Huit*s Cove, and sparingly
in a few other localities.

The Red Cedar or Savin (Juniverus Vtrginianoj L.) occurs
everywhere, by roadsides and in liilly pastures. When g^wing
alone, and left to itself, its perfect conical form makes it a very
beautiful tree, either in its dark-green foliage, or in the fruiting
season, having the green intermingled with heavy masses of blue,
from the great quantities of berries which it matures.

The Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida. Miller). This rather stiff and
ungraceful tree is quite common, growing at Hockley, South
Hingham, and in many other places. It is a small species here,
specimens not averaging thirty feet in height. Its leaves are in
threes.

The White Pine {Pinus strohus^ L.) is very common, forming
heavy forests in localities in Hingham. It is one of our noblest
trees, — a specimen on Lasell Street, although now shattered by the
storms of perhaps hundreds of winters, showing a majesty even in

i^A^u4.:»':Z^,^.>^.^. ■■ .. ^^ .^.^ . .^^ ^ . .., ,>_^^

156 History of Bingham^

its decay which well befits a tree which unquestionably was ma^
ture in aboriginal days. Would that the axe had spared more
such ! The White Pine has its leaves in fives.

The Black Spruce (Picea nigra^ Link.) Tliis tree grows in a
swamp east of High Street, and probably nowhere else wild in
Hingham, although cultivated here as an ornamental tree.

The Hemlock Spruce (Tutiga Cafiadenaisy Carridre) grows in
the woods in nearly every part of the town. It is a large, hand-
some species, with feathery, delicate foliage, and is much culti-
vated for ornamental purposes.

UUACEJB.

The Greenbrier, Horbkbrier (^Smilax rotundifoliay L.). Tliis
vine is very common. There is considerable beauty to it, the
bright-green leaves always fresh and shining, and the clusters of
small greenish flowers and blue-black berries in autumn quite
interesting. The plant is however a disagreeable one to meet
with in summer rambles, the thick sharp thorns making it a
barrier almost impassable.

The Carrion Flower (^Smilax herlaceay L.). Tliis is a hand-
some plant, and although a vine, it often stands alone in a leaning
position witJiout support. The leaves are rounded-oblong, thinner
than those of the Greenbrier, and the fruit is a very compact
bunch of black berries. The greenish masses of (lowers are
carrion-scented.

The Smilax Glauca (Walt.) strongly resembles the roiundifolia
but is much more rare, being found only lately, and in the South
Hingham woods.

MEASUREMENTS OF SOME NOTABLE TREES.

The Gay Elm on South Street, opposite the depot at the west end, measured
in 1859 18 feet 6 inches, surpassing in circumference of trunk all otlier trees
in town. Torn asunder some years since by a gale, the portion of the trunk
remaining uninjured measured in 1889 a little over 20 feet.

The beautiful Rocky Nook Elm on East Street measured in 1887 15 feet
41 inches with a spread of foliage of 90 feet. The Cusiiing Elm, comer ol
Main and South street^ measured in 18^9 15 feet. The Skymour Elm, on
Main Street, had a ffirth,in 1889, of IG feet 3 inches. The Elm on Prospect
Street, in front of Air. Bernard Cooney s house, measured in 1889 14 feet S
inches.

Of the noble Red Oaks on East, opposite Kilby, Street, one measured in*
1887 13 feet 10 inches, and another 13 feet 9J inches. The Buttoxwood
on tlie comer of Alain and I^avitt streets had a girth, in 1889, of 13 feet 4}
inches, with a spread of 100 feet.

A large Savin on land of Mr. Samuel Burr, at Martin's Lane, measured in
1890 9 feet 8 inches.

Tlie great Write Pine on Lazell Street measured 14 feet in 1887.

All the above measurements of circumference of trunk were taken at 4} feet
from the ground.

x^m

^«*?^'';;fi'1|;^

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OLD KLM, B'KOSPECT STU£ET.

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OLD KLM, I'liOSI'KGT STKEKT.

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LI I.'."*

168 Higtary of Bingham.

Hingham (including Cohasset, which until 1770 formed a part
of it) ; and to do this most thoroughly and enjoyablj a tramp
will be necessary, although at times it will be agreeable to take
to die saddle ; and a boat will twice or thrice be indispensable,
especially at the outset. For we will start, if you please, at the
extreme easterly point, and take some of the ledges which lie
off shore. Slany of these are nearer to Scituate Beach, but the
rest, including the most noted of all, Minot's, are opposite Cohas-
set harbor and beaches.

Mikot's Ledge is the outermost of those awful rocks, upon
which many a ship has met her doom; and unnumbered men,
ay, and women and children too, have vanished in the foam of
those breakers which lash the ledges unceasingly when the east
wind vexes the sea.

But on this hazy morning the ocean is calm enough. Only a
ground swell, smooth as glass, rolls languidly in, and we can lie
off the grim Minot's Ledge and examine tlie proportions of the
great granite tower at our ease. This tower was built by the
government to take the place of the wooden lighthouse, elevated
on iron posts, that was washed away, together with its keepers, in
the terrible storm of April, 1851.

Leaving Minot's outer and inner ledges, we come to an archi-
pelago of rocks, many of which are submerged at high water. .
The principal ones between Minot's and the Cohasset shore are,
the East and West Hogshead Rocks, the East and West Shag,
the Grampuses, Enos Ledge, Brush Ledge, Barrel Rock, Shep-
pard's Ledge, Gull Ledge, Sutton Rocks and Quamino Rock.

At the westerly entrance to Cohasset harbor is a high, wooded,
rocky promontory called Whitehead. During the last war with .
England earthworks were erected there and garrisoned. In June,'
1814, a British man-of-war came to destroy the shii^ping at Co-
hasset, but the commander, upon reconnoitring these fortifica-
tions, deemed them too strong to be attacked, and withdrew.
On the west side of the harbor is Gulf Island, and south of it
Supper, or Super, Island. We leave " the Glades " (in Scituate)
on our left in entering Cohasset harbor. On the south side of
the harbor, and close on the main land, is Doane's Island, now
Government Island. Here for several years the work of cutting
and shaping the rock sections to be used in building Minot's
Lighthouse was carried on.

Barson's Beach, northeast of Doane's Island, extends to Scitu-
ate Beach. In the palmy days of the fisheries on this shore
there were several acres of flakes thei-e, and fishing-vessels were
fitted out at this spot. Several Cohasset vessels, loaded with fish
here, were captured in the Mediterranean during the Bonapartist
wars, and many Cohasset people are to this day among those
interested in the French s])oliation claims. •

Let us land at the head of the harbor, and take the road, skirtr
ing the shore, Border Street A little stream called James's

■ja-jJ-i" — *' "• -'—^-"-

Ancient Landmarki. 159

River, which Aowb through the town, crossing Sonfh Main Street
not far from the depot, empties into the cove.

The Old Shipyard was on Border Street This road passes
between the water and high elevations on the inner side, called
Deacon Kent's Rocks, from wiiich is an extremely fine prospect.
The body of water between Doane^s Island and the main land is
The Gulf or The Gulf Stream. The entrance from the har>
bor is narrow and jagged, and the rushing tide, foaming and
seething in resistless volume in its ebb and now, is a picturesque
and beautiful sight. A bridge crosses the stream, and just below,
where there was formerly a rocky dam, stood the old Gulp Mill.,
which is now a thing of the past. A new mill, however, stands
near the site of the old one.

CONOHASSET RivER, or BouND Brook (Conohasset Rivulet of
Hutchinson's History), flows into the harbor on the south side,
emptying through the Gulf. Anciently it formed the boundary
line between Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies.

Retracing our way, we will take Elm Street (the Ship-Coyb
Lane of early days), pass around the head of Gohasset Habboe,
which narrows into a pretty little landlocked bit of water at this
point, and take the road which follows the shore as nearly as
possible over the isthmus between the harbor and Little Harbor,
the narrowest portion of whicli is known as Great Neck. After
going a few score rods in a direction generally northeasterly, the
road turns shar])ly to the north. At this point, extending down
the harbor, and in fact forming its northerly shore for some dis-
tance, is Deacon Bourne's Island, now the site of a fine private
estate, the proi)crty of a distinguished actor. These ** islands,^
in the nomenclature of our ancestors, were frequently pieces of
land divided from the mainland only by a narrow creek or water-.
way but a foot or two in width, or even high lands in swamps or
on beaches.

Beyond the little inlet and marshes north of this island, is
Hominy Point, a beautifully wooded locality extending out along
the water. There were formerly wharves at Hominy Point. The
road strikes across through thick woods and a very picturesque
country, coining near the water again at Sandy Cove, a slight
indentation north of the promontory pre\iously mentioned^
and finally turning west, pursues its winding way through
thickets gorgeous with the red and yellow of sumacs and the
scarlet of maples and woodbine, by rocky precipices dark with
lichens, coming upon delightful vistas of wood-bordered meadows
and lovely bits of water-views which break in here and there
unexpectedly, until it suddenly enters Cohasset village at The
Plain.

The Punch Bo^vL,a singular depression about one hundred feet
in diameter and twenty-five feet in depth, with apple trees now
growing in it, is on the north side of Tower's Lane, a short dis-
tance from the corner. The Devil's Armchair, composed of
slight depressions in the granite, probably of glacial origin, is a

ttatmaj^tmutrntamt/^giuttimik tnirtu\t\\m-r\mi\mm^mitKmammmumui^

160 History of Hingham.

few rods east of the highest point of the rocks on the south ude
d this lane near the Plain.

• Scattered here and there, in the thick natural shrubbery on the
water side, are the pretty, quaint cottages of those who spend
their summers by the sea. All along this shore formerly, from
Whitehead to Pleassmt Beach, were Saltworks, — among them
Parson Funt^s Saltworks.

Beach Street, which we hare been following, is the old Tower^s
Lake. We will retrace our course over it, to the private way
which leads to Cuba Dam, where now is the bridge flung across
the waterway which divides the territory over which we have
been passing from Beach Island. Here one might well linger
for hours to watch the rushing waters which foam and swirl
through this narrow, rocky inlet, which lets the sea into the
otherwise completely landlocked, most picturesque, and exquisitely
beautiful sheet of water called in early days Littel Harbour (Lit-
tle Harbor) or Old Harbour.

Whale's Valley is near Cuba Dam, in Old Harbor. A whale
is said to have once gone up the inlet into this harbor.

This inland bay, with its greatly diversified shores, *^ The Ridge
Road '' along the ]>recipitous bank at the west, wooded hills on
points making out into it here and there, low sandy beaches and
Beach Island dividing it from the sea ; and containing Cooper's .
Island, Rice's Island, and Little Rock within its waters, is a
fascinating locality for the admii-ers of fine scencr}*.

On Cooi)cr'8 Island are The Indian Pot and The Indian Well.
The former is a curious excavation, round, smooth, and regular,
having a capacity of about a dozen pails. The Indian Well is
another excavation near the first one described. From the hot- .
tom it is elliptical to the height of about four feet The re^
mainder is semicircular, opening to the east.

These excavations are glacial pot-holes, but may have been
used by the Indians for various purposes ; and from the fact of
hatchets and other aboriginal implements having been found
in the ground near by, the early settlers supposed them to have
been tlie work of the Indians.

Cuba Pam derived its name from there having been a dam
built by a company of Hingham and Cohasset people about the
beginning of tlie century, across the inlet, to shut out the sea, '
and enable them to reclaim the Little Harbor, which it was
thought would eventually become very profitable as hay fields.
Tliis was all very well until the great storm of April, 1851,
which left nothing intact u|>on the shores which the sea could
possibly destroy, tore this dam to pieces ; and it has never, hap-
pily for the scenery, been rebuilt. In the old days vessels were
built at Little Harbor.

The bridge across the inlet at Cuba Dam leads to Beach
Island, a partly wooded eminence rising from the beach sur-
rounding it, and as romantic a spot for the fine seaside resi-
dences situated on the easterly slope as could l>e desired.

Ancient LandmarkM. 161

Next beyond this i8 Sandy Beach, aptlj 80 called, whfle off
shore are Black Ledge, — ominous name, — and Brush Island.
At the cud of this beach arc higher lands, very rocky, and with
great ledges extending out into the sea. Here is Eimball% a
pleasantly situated tavern, celebrated for its fish and game fare,
somewhat as Taft's upon the north shore has been, for many
years. From here extend the stony beaches, picturesquely varied
with sea-worn ledges, known collectively as Pleasant Beach,
which terminates at Walnut Angle, as the northwest comer
of the Second Division was denominated, at the east end of
Coliasset Rocks.

Now let us turn about, and taking the road by which we have
just come in reverse, return to Cobasset Harbor again. Thence
going west over the old Ship-Cove Lane (now Elm Street) we
before long reach South Main Street.

South ^lain Street leads southeast to the Scituate line, at
Bound Buook, which was the Conohasset Rivulet of Hutchin-
son's History. Here, over the brook, was the old dam, a wide
roadway now, whereon stood the Old Mill. About half-way
over the dam, and presumably at the middle of the stream as it
was at the time, the Patent Line was established. Bound Rock
was at this i)oint. It is now represented by a hewn granite stone,
set up to mark the spot, by Captain Martin Lincoln, of Cohasset,
more than half a century ago.

When the Indian chiefs, Wompatuck and his brothers, gave a
deed of the territory of Hingham to the English in 1665, there
was also embraced in this instrument a tract of *^ threescore acres
of salt marsh " which lay on the fui'ther side of the Conohasset
Rivulet, in Scituate, in the Plymouth Colony. These lowlands
were known as The Conohasset Miadows.

The Patent Line at Bound Rock was the base line north of
which the First, Second, Third, and Second Part of the Third
Divisions were directly or remotely laid out

It will be necessary to explain the significance of the term
*' division," which often recurs in any description of the topog-
raphy of Hingham and Cohasset.

When the Rev. Peter Hobart first came with his little band of
colonists to " Bare Cove," in 1635, he found several of his friends
who had settled there as early as 163S. " Bare Cove ** was as-
sessed in 1634. The " plantation " was erected in July, 1635, and
on September 2nd, following, the name of the town was changed
to Uingham by authority of the General Court. There are but
eleven towns in the State, and only one in the county of Ply-
mouth, which are older than Hingham.

Oil the 18tli of September, 1635, Mr. Hobart and twenty-nine
others drew for houselots, and received grants of pasture and
tillage lands. This year specific grants of land were made to
upwards of fifty persons, and this method was followed for many
years ; but as the colony increased in size, and the people spread

TOL. 1. — u

162 Hiitarj/ of HinghawL

along the shore, it was deemed advisable by the proprietors Jbo
survey and lay out the unappropriated portions of the township,,
to* be divided among tlie settlers in proportion to the number of
acres which they had in their houselots.

This led to the establishment of numerous landmarks, many of
which are recognized up to the present time, and their names,
often very quaint, will be handed down to posterity long after
their significance is forgotten.

It may be of interest to state liere that the houselots drawn
for on the 18th of September, 1635, were upon Town, now North
street. This year, also, the settlements extended to Broad Cove,
now Lincoln Street. In 1636 houselots were granted upon the
other part of Town Street, since re-named South Street, and on
the northerly part of " Bachelor's Rowe," now Main Street.

The first grants of land in Cohasset (variously called ^^ Cono-
hasset,'' " Cunihast," ** Comessett,") were mentioned in the Hing-
ham town records in 1647. The first settlements are said to have
been at Rocky Nook and on the Jerusalem Road.

All these specific grants of land were for many }'ears from ter-
ritory yet belonging properly to the Indians ; but on the 4th of
July, 1665, a deed of all the tract of land now comprising the
towns of Hingham and Cohasset, together with ^Mhree score-
acres of salt marsh'* on the Scituate side of the river, which ,
divides Hingham from Scituate, was obtained from the chiefs
Wompatuck, Squmuck, and Ahahden, sons of the. great sachem
Chickatabut, who lived on the banks of Ne]>ons4*t river, and who-
probably permitted the first settlers to locate at Hingham, which
was in his realm. He ruled over the principal portion of the ter-
Titory now comprised in Plymouth and Norfolk counties.

The system of surveying and allotting certain districts led to-
their being designated by the general name of "divisions;" as
"First Division," "Second Division," etc. There were six of
these divisions riade. The first, second, and third were in 1670.

The First Division, entirely in Cohasset, starts at the " Patent
Line," which runs from Bound Rock, on the milldam, across
Bound Brook in a straight line southwest by west, five miles
eighty rods. The coast line of the First Division follows the
course of Bound Brook northward to the harbor, then strikes into
Meeting-House Road (now South Main Street), crosses Great
Neck, extends along this road to Deer Hill Lane opposite the
southwest side of Little Harbor, then runs along this lane south-
westerly to King Street, thence follows a line through the centre
of Scituate Pond southeasterly to the patent line.

The base line of the easterly part of the Second Division is the
northwest boundary of the First Division (Deer Hill Lane). On
the southeast, the line starts at the comer of the First Division
on Little Harbor, and follows the westerly side of the Ridge Road,
skirts Peck's Meadow on the west, returns to the Ridge Road and
runs to Walnut Angle (westerly end of Pleasant Beach) on tho

■kfcA^a^ iifc I 11 ti

Anaent Landmarki. 168

shore, which it follows to Strait's Pond, thence in a general 'south-
westerly direction to *^ Breadencheese Tree," and from there south-
easterly over Lambert's Lane and King Street to the northwest
corner of the First Division on King Street.

Supper Island and Gulf Island in the harbor, the promontory
east of Great Neck, and Beach Island, and the other 80^»IIed
^^ islands " and high lands along the beaches east and north of
Little Harbor, are also in this portion of the Second Division.

The westerly part of the Second Division lies on the west side
of Lambert's Lane and King Street. The easterly boundary
strctclics from ^^Breadencheese Tree" to Scituate Pond, along
the west side of the east part of the Second Division, and of the
First on King Street The northwesterly boundary line runs
from ^^ Breadencheese Tree " irregularly southwest, passing around
and excluding Smith's Island to a cart path running southeast-
erly, which it follows to a point where it turns and runs easterly to
the First Division line, north of Scituate Pond.

Tlic Second Division is entirely in CohasseL

The Third Division is partly in Cohasset, but mostly in Hing^
ham, the northwesterly boundary starting at the northwest angle
of the Second Division and running rather irregularly southwest
till it strikes the patent line not far from Prospect HilL The
southwesterly boundary starts at the southwest comer of the
Second Division and runs to the patent line in a direction gener^
ally parallel to the northwesterly boundary line.

The Second Fart op the Third Division is partly in Hing.
ham, mostly in Cohasset, and lies south of the Third Division and
the westerly portion of the Second, between them and the patent
line, and west of the First. It Includes about half of Scituate
Pond.

The Fourth DmsiON was made of the tract lying along the
extreme southwest boundary of Hingham on tiie Weymouth
border.

The Fifth and Sixth Divisions were of detached portions of
lands remaining from the former divisions (excluding specific
grants). Nutty Hill was included in the Fifth, and certain of the
westerly and northerly meadow lands in both tlie Fifth and Sixth.

The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Divisions of lands were made a
few years previous to the middle of the eighteenth century.

We will return over South Main Street, passing, just before we
reach the road leading to the depot, the long old house, once
Christopher James's Tavern. A short distance further north,
on THE Plain, stands the Old Church, erected in 1747, — the
first Meeting-House having been built here in 1713.

About an eighth of a mile further on. Winter Street runs south-
west over Deer Hill. This street was the old Deer Hill Lake.
Just beyond the coiner of the lane with North Main Street, there
begins, on the right, the renowned Jerusalem Road, also called

1(U

HUlorjf of Hingham,

the RiDCE Road, or The Ridges. It runs nortli for some -dis-
tAnce along a high bank, or ridge, beneath which lies Little Har-
bor, OQ the cast side. Tlie scenery in this direction is beautiful.
The little inland bay exhibits all its variety of outline from this
point, with its pictui-eiique rocks, wooded hcadlanda, and islands.

In a field west of fbe road, and quite a distance from it, is a
huge bowlder balanced, apprirently, so delicately upon a point that
it seems as if it could be easily dislodged from its position upon
a ledge where it lies. This lias long been known as Tittuko
Rock.

TITTLISO ROCK.

The road soon Rlo|tOR downward on to a lower level and enters
woods, but still skirts Little Hnrbor. Winding along the edge of
a rocky descent, it crosses a salt marsh by a dike. On the left is a
japgcii )iiccipicc, clothed partly with trees. Tliis is Steep Rocks.
Around the marsh's edge and skirting the foot of the rocks is an
old road, Buw l^trcet, which was once the principal highway, and
was used again after the great storui of April, 1851, which washed
away the dike, until this Tatter was rebuilt.

166 Histary qf Hinghank

Bocks, lies Black Bock, a long, jagged, wave-worn mass, a few
hundred feet off shore. At the west end of this beach (a pebblir
isthmus, joining Cohasset to Greenhill in the precincts of Hull^
begins Strait's Pond, a beautifid sheet of salt water lying along
the westerly part of Jerusalem Boad, and between it and the
beaches of Hull north of it. After passing through a rocky gorge
bordered by misshapen savins, we come upon a low, long, an-
cient, one-story house on the left of the road, which is one of the
oldest buildings in Cohasset. It belonged to a branch of the Lin-
coin family, and was built in 1709, having been originally con-
structed on Greenhill, in Hull, and moved across the ice of Strait's
Pond in winter. The roadway formerly lay on the south side
of it

As the neighborhood is being rapidly overrun by fashion, which
cares nothing for old landmarks, this house will probably disap-
pear very soon, to make way for modern " improvements.''

In the next hollow Battlesnake Bun, on its way from Great
Swamp, crosses under the road to empty into Strait's Pond. In
the pretty canal, flowing among trees and shrubs in the private
grounds on the south side of the roijid, one would fail to recognize
the old run as it was before its metamorphosis.

Beyond this point the road bends round a steep, rocky ledge on
the south side. This is Jot's Bocks, and the bond was the old
Joy's Corner, — an angle of the Second Division.

Folsom's Island (originally Jones Island) is in Strait's Pond,
near Nantaskct Neck*

The Jerusalem Boad continues along the border of Strait's
Pond until it ends at Hull Street, on the Hingham line.

Turning to the left, Hull Street (which here divides Hingham
from Cohasset ; the east side being Cohasset, the west Hingham)
leads in a generally southerly direction, crossing Turkey-Hill
Bun at the foot of the first slight rise. Nearly half a mile fur-
ther on, after going up a hill and winding somewhat to the left,
LxiMBERT's Lane, or Breadencheese Tree Lane, is found oppo-
site Canterbury Street, in Hingham, and leading in an easterly
direction into Cohasset woodlands. It soon crosses Turkey-HiU
Bun, and at the s|iot where it intersects the western boundary
line of the Second Division, stood, in 1670, the celebrated Bread-
encheese Tree. The sur^'eyors, who laid out the First, Second,
and Third Divisions at that time, were evidently of a waggish
turn of mind, and chose to name certain points or angles from
which they '* took their bearings " according to the composition
of the lunch which they had for the day. Thus the northeasterly
angle of the First Division they named Pie Corner.

When they arrived under a certain large tree, they sat down
and ate their bread and cheese ; and Bread-and-Cheese Tree, or
Breadencheese Tree, became a landmark from that hour on,
through these last two centuries and more.

The Maypole was a tree at an angle a shoii distance southwest

lilk

riftoMtei

Ancient Landmarkt. 167

of Breadenclieesc Tree, on the line of the Second Divisioiu
SMITH'S Island was on this line further to the southwest.

A half-mile or so from Turkey-Hill Bun, the lane crosses Rat-
tlesnake Run, which, starting in Purgatoj7 Swamp, we encoun-
tered upon Jerusalem Road, where it empties into Strait^s Pond.
Lambert's Lane, running through thick woods almost all the way,
passes over Bkeadencheese Tree Plain; and here was Hnx-
phrey's, or, as commonly called in the old days, At Humph ret^s.

Lambert's Lane eventually emerges at the modem Forest Ave-
nue, and at this point there was in the early part of the centoiy
a dairy farm belonging to General Lincoln. Nearly all of these
tillage and pasture lands of earlier times are now overgrown by
thick forest. Walnut Hill is in this vicinity. Puroatort
Swam? is northwest of Walnut HilL

Passing south over Forest Avenue, we come soon to North
Main Street, and turning into this, we almost Immediately strike
off diagonally to the right into Cedar Street, noW a deserted way,
but a beautifully winding and wooded one, formerly the Old Co-
HASSET Road, over which, in early times, people joumeved from
Ilingham to Cohasset It leads over hill and dale, bisects a
superb fancy farm at Turkey Meadows and passing by a quiet
little graveyard at a turn to the northward, comes put on Hull
Street.

In order to reach most expeditiously the next locality which it
is desirable to visit, it will be best to proceed through Hull Street
to East Street, Ilingham, and thence through this town bv the
way of the old Side-Hill road, over Turkey Hill (a most delight-
ful ride, especially at this season), through Leavitt, Spring, Pleas-
ant, and Union streets, until Beech wood Street is reached,
which leads from Union Street to Cohasset This sti*eet at first
winds through beautiful and wild woodlands, largely composed
of beeches, with many holly-trees here and there, their exquisite
foliage reflecting the sunbeams, and the bright scarlet berries
forming a brilliant contrast to the rigid leaves' polished green.

Here is the part of Cohasset called Beechwoods, or in old
deeds The Beeches, deriving the name from the trees which
form so large a i»art of the woods of this district. Stony Brook
is the name of a little stream which crosses Beechwood Street,
flowing through a pretty meadow bordered by trees and bright
with wild flowers in their season, near the village called Pratt's
Corner.

Hard by is Barn Hill, made almost an island by this Stony
Brook. The locality known as Kingo is comprised in this neigh-
borhood, taking its name from a former inhabitant who lived
near, in a stone house in the woods.

A short distance further on, Doane Street enters Beechwood
Street on the north side. Doane Street is a continuation in Co-
hasset of Leavitt Street in Uingham, which leads through Third
Division woods.

168 History of Hingham.

On the north side of Beechwood Street, and about a third of a
mile east of Doane Street, is Rattlesnake Rock, or Rattlesnake
Den, formerly a haunt of these reptiles, although they are un-
doubtedly extinct there now.

Souther's Hill is a short distance east of Doane Street, and
Joy's Hill, or Captain Pratt's Hill, is on the soutii side of
Beechwood Street There is a fine view from this hilL About
a mile east of Doane Street, on the north side of Beechwood
Street is a great ledge, having a large bowlder on it, which
is called Mount Pisgah. Turtle Island is near Beechwood
Street where it crosses a branch of Bound Brook. The old Iron
Works stood here.

Pratt's Rocks form a ledge near the road, nearly two miles
from Doane Street. On the south side of Beechwood Street,
near King Street, is Widow's Rock, which is shaped like a hav-
stack. The property about this rock was once sold for exactly
one thousand dollars. When the deed came to be i)assed, and
payment made, the buyer offered the seller a onc-thousand-doUar
bill, which was contemptuously refused. " What,'* cried the
seller, ^^ I sell my land for one little bit of paper like that ! No
sir ! I will have a good pile of bills for it." And the buyer had
to give him a sufficient quantity of small bills to the amount of
SIOOO to make the transaction look ^^ big" to him. A short dis-
tance cast of Widow's Rock Is Governor's Hn.L. The name has
no special significance in this connection, however.

We will turn northwest into King Street, and proceed along
this ancient road, the original boundary of the First and Third
Divisions, and the dividing line wliich separates the Second into
two parts. It is a hilly and pleasantly wooded road in places,
and borders Scituate Pond, also called 'Kiah Tower's Pond, of
late years sometimes Lily Pond. It was named Scituate Pond
bv the first settlers because it was on the road to Scituate; and
'Kiah Tower's Pond afterwards because land about it was owned
by a Mr. Hezekiah Tower. Tliis land, or a portion of it is still
held by his descendants. By the latter name the pond is known
in the country adjacent. It is a very beautiful sheet of water, its
banks being composed of both high and low lands, and heavy
woods, always such an indispensable adjunct of fine scenery,
covering a large proportion of its shores.

How exquisite it is now, in the quiet afternoon sunlight, its
unruffled waters reflecting a white feathery cloud lazily drifting
across the deep blue sky, and the scarlet and yellow forests
about it contrasting so brilliantly with those rich, deep-green,
pine woodlands!

That great rounded gray ledge rising out of its bosom, Pond
Rock, has looked the same to every race of men which has dwelt
about these shores or fished in tlieir waters, since the melting
away of the great glacier first let in upon it, as it is now,
the light of day. It echoed the war-whoop of the red man

AtiaeHt Landmark*. 169

when he first shrieked it in the forests of the hills aronnd, and
mtvc back its latoHt faiiit reverberation when it despairinf^j
died away for tlie last time on the western wind. Its lichen-
clad gruuito slopes fluiig luck a quick response to the sharp
crack of Ibc pale-faced pioneer's firelock, when it imperiousl;
announced to those solitudes that the reign of the wolf and
the Algonquin must give place to that of tlie Anglo-Saxon.
The dawD will touch Uic old rock vith its earliest rosy beam,
and the last ray of sunset linger upon it in yellow light, when
that Anglo-Saxon, with his mighty works, sliall hare vanished for-
ever, and the history of liis existence remain only as a myth.

rOND aOCK, KITUATK POXD.

King Street runs along the eastern slope of Scitdate Hill,
which lies east of Tui-key Hill. Tlie name was applied to it by
the early eettlei-s because it was on the way to Scihiate.

After crossing the railrond, King Street ends at North Main
Street. This road winds pleaRantly through the beautiful Co-
HASRET WooiH and croHses the northern portion of Great Swamp,
which extends fnr to the southward, covering a large tract of
country. Xoi'lh Main Street enters Ilingham as East Street, at
the Homesteads.

Now turning about, we will ride eastwards again, and strike
into King Street Upon reaching Winter Street, we will turn
off to the east over this road, which is tlie old Deer Hill Lane.
It crosses I>eer Hill, a smooth, ratber high hill, and comes out
on North JIain Street, nearly opposite the cemetery.

SouthcQKt of Deer Hill, is Barb Hill (Bear Hill), now called
Joiner's Hill, ivlierc the woter reservoir is.

A huge and stce]) ledge lying opposite the westerly end of
Summer Street is known as Sunset Bock.

170 HUtary tff Hingham.

But the fair October sunset itself has faded into twilight, leav*
ing a beautiful afterglow that promises another fine daj for to-
morrow. If the promise is fulfilled, we will start in the early
morning to visit the Hingham landmarks.

A morning like that of yesterday, ^^ so cool, so calm, so bright,*'
nslicrs iu a second perfect autumn day, of all times in the year
the finest for rambles in the saddle. Let us take up our subject
this morning at the point where three townships meet.

The Jerusalem Road ends at the Hingham line, where the «
towns of Cohasset, Hingham, and Hull form a junction. To the
right, northerly, lies Nantasket Beach, about half a mile distant
A few rods to the north, the road to the beach crosses the old
Hill Lane Bridge, which separates Strait's Pond from the littie
estuary called Lyford's Liking, or Weir River. This, however,
is not the river itself, but merely an extension of the bay into
which Weir river empties. The 'origin of this quaint name,
L}ifordC% Likinff, is buried in obscurity. In 1642, however, in
Suffolk Deeds, Vol. I., the names of Ruth Leyford, John Leyford
her father, and Mordccay Leyford her brother, appear ; and in
1649 an old deed speaks of ^^ foure Acres meadow, more or less, '
at Laxford^% LUcdng^

The rofld coming from the south, on the left hand, Hull Street,
divides Hingham from Cohasset, and winds through the rocky
villafre known as Tugmanug, an old Indian name of the locality.
Until within thirty-odd years, this was the only road from Hing-
ham to Nantasket Beach.

Rockland Street runs west along the marshes for nearly a mile,
skirting a range of higher and rocky table land lying to the
south, which is known as Canterbury. It was probably included
in a grant to Cornelius Canterbury, who settled in Hingham be-
fore 1649.

In the ditch by the side of this street, where it runs through
the salt marsh, are the stumps of gigantic trees, which were dug
out of the roadway here when the street was made, about the
year 1855. These trees were unquestionably meml)ers of a forest
which lived and flourished here untold ages ago. The lands
where it existed were probably low, and near the then coast
line ; and through some gradual subsidence of the land, or sud-
den convulsion of nature, there was a breaking in of the sea, with |
consequent destruction of the forest. AH through the period of
submergence of this locality these stumps were preserved, being
under salt water, and now, perhaps a thousand years after the
eatastrophe that ended their lives, the relics of the trunks of these
old trees are mouldering to decay in the rays of the same sun-
shine that caused their buds to break into leafy beauty in the last
springtime of their existence.

-i

< «

Ancient Landmarta. 171

North of Rockland Street, just before it reaches the rising
ground, and perhaps a quarter of a mile or so out over the
marshes, upon Lyford's Liking, is Barnes's Island,' formerly
Sprague's Island. From the road it has the appearance of a
sli^jht rise, well wooded.

A short distance further west the road crosses Weir Biyeb,
here a pretty stream about to empty into Weir River Bat, a
quarter of a mile northward. Tide water comes up beyond the
bridge at this point, to the falls at the dam a few score rods
south, where Thomas's Pond is, and where Thomas's Foundry
stood until within a few years.

Along t])c river bank on the east side, for some distance, is a
range of liigh rocky cliffs, beautifully wooded, and very pictur-
esque. Down from this savin-clothed height comes the little
Woodcock's Run, or Lyford's Liking Run, a small brook hardly *

distinguishable in the dry months.

There was in early times across Weir River, not far from the
bridge now spanning it at Rockland street, a log, upon which
people could cross the stream, and also a landine where timber {

and firewood were loaded upon vessels bound for Boston and 'j

elsewhere. This place was called The Loo, or At the Loo. i

Log Lane led to this spot, from Weir River Lane. •!

Down the river about a quarter of a mile, and at the point
where it broadens into a wide estuary, there was, nearly a ccn- •{

tury since, a woollen mill, owned by and carried on in the interest ]

of General Benjamin Lincoln, who seems to have been interested !

in many enterprises. There was afterwards a flour mill here, and
the place was subsequently occupied by the small-pox . hospital.
TuE Lime Kiln was near by, and the neck of land opposite,
situated between the river and the cove which makes up on the
west side of this nock, is terminated by Bass Point.

Crossing Weir River by the Rockland Street bridge, we are i

upon higher gnjuiid, included in Plain Xeck, which comprehends
all the country south and west of this bridge (as well as north-
ward as far as Ciishing's Neck), which can be comprised in the
teiritory bordered on the east and south by Weir River, and upon
the west by the harbor, and probably extending as far as Cham-
berlain's Run. The limits are indefinite, but old deeds show |
that they are about as described. |

A sliort distance west of the river Rockland Street passes }

through a thickly wooded swamp, which was for many years, - j

until 185o, The Heronry. Here were the homes of the night ■,

herons, their nests being visible in the woods on every side.
They were driven away when the road was laid out through
their haunts.

Xeck Gate Hill, now Old Colony Hill, at the junction of
Rockland Street, Rummer Street, and Martin's Lane, is a pleas-
antly located hill, having fine woodlands and beautiful country
about it. The view from the summit in every direction is charin-

■ t
i'

172 History of Hingham.

ing. For many years the Old Colony House, a favorite summer
resort, stood here. It was built in 1832, and burned in 1872.

But now before going on to Hingham harbor, let us turn down
Martin's Lane, to the right, and northward. This is a narrow
road, formerly having the Neck Gate across it, at the hill. It
slopes gradually downward, and is bordered by trees, with masses
of tangled woodlands upon the right, now exquisite in tlie glory
of autumn. Wild hidden ravines, picturesque rocky precipices,
clothed with vines, ferns, and savins, are upon the cast side. The
trouble of searching them out will be well repaid in learning
what scenery generally thought peculiar to mountain districts
is here under our very eyes, but almost unknown.

On the west, the land lies in beautifully rolling fields, dotted
here and there with fine trees, down to tlie water. The road
finally winds over a slight rise, between shrubby woods and
through a noble private estate till it reaches, nearly a mile from
Neck Gate Hill, Martin's Well, formerly Abraham's Well, the
remains of which are still visible in the field to the right, near
by whei*e the lane ends. Tlicre is • a pretty cove, or indentation,
at this point.

Abraham Martin was one of the early settlers who came with
Rev. Peter Hobart in 1635. He owned land in this locality and
built this well.

This land is embraced in the strip between the harbor and
Weir River to the eastward, called Cushing's Neck, — large tracts
having been owned here early by a branch of that family, which
has furnished, in peace and war, so many celebrated Americans.
Hingham was the home of the family in America. Lands at Cush-
ing's Neck are still in possession of one of the descendants.

The road which crosses the head of this cove goes over the
heavy stone dam (Martin's Well Dam) which shuts out the- sea
from the fertile meadows lying east of it. Tliese fonned one of
the Damde Meddowes, so often referred to in old deeds. The
east end of these meadows is also dammed at Weir River Bay.

Passing through a gate, we come to Pine Hill, a little emi-
nence overlooking the harbor, now a smooth, rounded hill, with
a few trees upon its summit. North of tliis is the fine Planter's
Hill, also smooth and oval in outline, like all the Hingham hills.
There is a noble view from its top, extending all around the hori-
zon, — of the Blue Hills of Milton, in the far distance, the town
lying close by. Third Division woods southward, tlie harbor to the
west, and broad ocean to the north and east beyond Nantasket
Beach.

At the foot of the northerly slope of Planter's Hill is a short,
low isthmus, a few rods in length, and very narrow at high tide,
— World's End Bar. A generation ago the fox hunters used
to beat the country at South Hingham and drive the game north-
ward through the woods and fields of the township till it arrived
at the peninsula bounded by Weir River and the harbor. After

Ancient Landmarks. 178

reaching that point, there was no escape for the unhappy foxes, .
wliosc flight led them inevitably to World's End Bar, upon which,
or on the next hill, they atoned with their lives for ^ crimes doue
in the flesh."

There is a curiously stunted elm-tree growing on the very top
of Planter's Hill. It is evidently dwarfed by having grown up
wedged among large rocks. It is of great age, early records re-
ferring to it soon after the settlement of the country, and appar-
ently has not increased in size during the two past centuries. It
is, indeed, an '^ ancient landmark."

The doubly rounded eminence north of this bar is Wobld^s
End, a peninsula surrounded b}' water on all sides excepting
where this bar connects it with Planter's Hill. The harbor is on
the west, Weir River Bay upon the cast side.

Following the shore of Weir River Bay, we come to a little
cove upon the east side of Planter's Hill, and tlien an extremely
picturescjue locality, having high rocks and precipices along its
water front, and great ledges cropping out all over it This is
known as Rocky Neck.

Up the little bay, to the eastward, lies Nantasket Beach, and
nortii of it, the point of land stretching out into the harbor, is
White Head. Tliese localities are in Hull.

The rough and broken easterly shore line of Rocky Neck finally
crosses a little meadow and beach, and beyond these is a narrow
passage between great masses of crag^ rocks, which are called
Lincoln's Rocks. Through this passage comes the current of
Weir River. Close here, too, is the great rock in the water which
has been known from early times as The Ringbolt Rock,
from the huge iron ring let into its surface for the accommo-
dation of vessels hauling up the river. At ** The Limekiln," in
the upper part of Weir River Bay, there were, in old times,
vessels l)uilt. The last one was the ship "Solferino," of about 800
ions, launched in the year 1859, the largest vessel ever built in
Uingham.

The water here is the westerly jiortion of the inlet which ex-
tends easterly to the dam at Strait's Pond, and which we met
with there under the ancient name of Lyford's Liking.

Let us go down the river again to Rocky Neck and cross Old
Planter's Fields, lying on the southeasterly slopes of Planter's
and Pine hills, and on over the "Damde Meddowes" to Martin's
Lane, which we will cross at the cove, and proceed along the
shore skirting the beautiful tract of country between Martin's
Lane and the harbor, called, anciently, Mansfield's, to Mans-
field's Cove, a slight indentation at the head of the harbor,
bounded on the west by a ledge making out into the water, called
Barnes's Rocks, uppn and over which the old steamboat pier and
hanging wire bridge used to be. This ledge extends out under
the channel, interfering with navigation at low water. The
United States government has expended considerable sums of

■AdtekMtafeUKHift

174 History of Hinghanu

money in not entirely succesBful attempts to remove it by sob-
marine blastinff.

There were formerly Salt Works east of Mansfield's Cove.

A few rods farther on is Hersey's Wharf, at tlie present time
as stanch a structure as it was when it was constructed. Upon
this wharf, and on the beach west of it, were built several fine
ships, besides numerous barks, brigs, and schooners; for this
was Hall's Shipyard. West of this wharf is the steamboat pier.
Upon Summer Street, on the hill just above Hersey's wharf, is a
large white house at the south side of the i*oad, now the mansion
of a private estate. This was, in former times, one of the old
inns, and was known as the Wompatuck House.

After crossing another stone wharf, now disused, we find this
beach extending along toward a line of wharves at The Cove at
the head of the harbor. The earliest settlers at the harbor called
the place Bare Cove, from the fact that the receding tide leaves
the flats bare ; and by tbis name the settlement was designated
and assessed, until later it received the name of Hingham.

Previous to the building of Summer Street, the only highway
leading from the cove to the village lying between the disused
wharf above referred to and Neck Gate Hill, was along the upper
edge of this beach ; people and teams going down into the dock
below the mill-dam at the Cove, at low tide, crossing the mill ^
stream and passing along the beach on their way east. Summer
Street here was constructed from material taken from Ward's
Hill, a high knoll of sand and gravel rising south from the beach,
now known as Cobb's Bank, which in early times extended sev- '
eral hundred feet to the eastward. It is fast disappearing under
the demand for sand and gravel for filling purposes.

Along the water side north of Ward's Hill there were also ves^
sels built

The low land lying between Summer Street and the railroad
track, and east of Ward's Hill, was formerly Wakely's Meadow,
or Brigadier's Meadow. Within a very few years this meadow
was salt, and the owner, wishing to reclaim it, caused it to be
drained into the harbor, the pipes passing uudcr Summer Street
In digging beneath this street at the old sea-level, the contractor
uneaithed old piles and the stone retaining walls of wharves, thus
pronng the early existence of landing places for vessels far within
the limits where it is now possible for them to come.

The meadow belonged early to Thomas Wakely. It afterwards
was the property of Brigadier-General TheophUus Cushing, and
received its later name in this connection. Thomas Wakely was
an early settler with Rev. Mr. Hobart, in 1636.

The high land south of Wakely's Meadow, beyond the railroad
track, is Peck's Pasture. Robert and Joseph Peck came to this
country in 1638.

Following the ancient water line from the harbor up through
the mill-dam, we reach The Mill-Pond. Here stood the Corn

Andeni Landmarki. • ITS

Mill, and also the Saw Mill, erected, probably, in 1648 or 1644»
The present grist mill stands upon or near the aame spot

Tlie body of water connected with the mill-pond through fhe
water-way which exists under the junction of the railroad with
Water Street, affords, cast of this street when the full tide is in^
some of the finest scenery about Hingham, taken in connection
with the beautifully wooded uplands on the marshes, called An-
drews or Sassafras Island, and the high rocks and precipices jut-
t\u<r out from thick oak woods along the eastern bank. The
brilliant colors of the foliage contrasting with the gray of the
rocks, the blue of the water, and bright green of the meadows go-
to make up a picture worthy the brush of an artisL

These salt marshes, extending south to Pear Tree HiU, are
known as the Home Meadows.

But to return to the mill-pond. This body of water, lies be-
tween North and Water Streets and the maple-bordered and bean*
tiful sliades of the cemetery lying to the south. The railroad
skirts its southern bank. Tlie mill-pond was anciently a little
cove, and the Rev. Peter Hobart, with his band of settlers, landed
near the head of this cove where now is the foot of Ship Street.
Here the first religious services were held, near a magnificent
elm, which, standing in all its majesty up to a dozen or so years^
ago, an ornament to the street and town, was barbarously cut
down by the authorities on the wretched pretext that it was In
the way of pedestrians on the sidewalk. At the time of it»
destruction two cannon balls were found imbedded among its
roots, which were undoubtedly left there by the early settlers.
These are now in the possession of a zealous antiquarian and local
historian.

The Town Brook empties into the western extremity of the
mill-pond.

With the idea of following the harbor line from the mill-pond
north, we will avail ourselves of the ancient private way which
runs alon^ by the heads of the old wharves, some of which are
yet used for the reception from a few coasters of such lumber and
coal as are required for use in the town ; some have fallen into
decay, and with the old rotting warehouses upon the landward
side of this little way, are sad reminders of the maritime glories
of this once active locality. For Hingham formerly sent a large
and well-appointed fishing fleet to sea. Along her shores we have
visited some, and shall come across more of the shipyards where
numerous ships and smaller craft were built and launched, and
the sea captains, sons of her stanch old families, sailed to all
quarters of the world.

At the end of this old private way, and where it connects with
Otis Street, was formerly Souther's, earlier Barker's, Shipyard.
Here, where now are pretty seaside villas, the keel of many a fine
vessel was laid, and the plunge of these into their destined ele-
ment was made in a direction toward Goose Point, a small, low^

176 History qf Hingham.

marshy promontory, forming the northerly arm of the little cove
here. On the west side of this cove was Keen^s Shipyard.

Following along Otis Street over a salt meadow, we come to a
few summer residences scattered along by the bay, some being
near the former edge of the sand cliff which was cut away when
this road was laid out. Here were, a generation ago, extensive
Salt Works, having their windmills upon the beach ; for, in ear-
lier days large quantities of salt were required in packing mackerel
taken by the fishing fleet, and much of it was of home production.
A few score rods further to the noi*th, and we are at Broad Cove,
an estuary extending in westward as far as Lincoln Street, and
then noilhward as much farther. As our plan is to follow the
shore, we will proceed along the southerly bank of this cove.
The first locality of interest is at the south side of the entrance
from the harbor. Here stood Major's Wharf and the warehouse
adjoining it on the edge of the sand cliff. The writer remembers
the old well which was at the foot of the cliff near or under where
the building stood. At this wharf were rigged the vessels which
were built at the head of Broad Cove at Lincoln Street The
wharf and property in the vicinity belonged, in the latter part of
the last century, to Major Thaxter, of the old Provincial army.
This gentleman was an officer in the regiment raised in this
vicinity which formed part of the garrison at Fort William Henry,
which surrendered to Montcalm and his French and Indian forces
after a protracted siege in the old French war. He came very
near being one of the victims of the subsequent massacre, being
taken prisoner and tied to a tree by the Indians, who lighted a
fire around him. A French officer rescued him, and he subse-
quently escaped or was exchanged.

The land lying soutli of this cove adjoining (and perhaps in-
cluding) the present camp-grounds beIongin.tr to the First Corps
of Cadets of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, was formerly
known as John's Neck.

Upon the south bank of the cove were, in early days Salt
Works.

At the Lincoln Street end of Broad Cove was a Shipyard,
where numerous vessels were built. An old lady in conversation
with the writer a few years since, spoke of having seen four
vessels at a time upon the stocks there in the early part of this
century.

Broad Cove divides into two creeks which extend northward
and westward for about a quarter of a mile. Over these creeks,
from Lincoln Street to Crow Point, ran Crow Point Lane, cross-
hig the creeks by bridges. These were landmarks a ceniury ago,
the territory liereabouts being known as " At Y* Bridges."

Planter's Fields Lane led from Crow Point Lane to Planter's
Fields.

From " Y Bridges " northwestward toward Weymouth River for
a considerable distance lay the Ship Lots.

Ancieni Landmarki.

177

Returning bj the northerly shore of Broad Cove to the harbor
again, we skirt the foot of Otis Hill, very steep upon its western
slope, and from this cause known to the early settlers, in their
quaintly expressive nomenclature, as Weart-all Hill. The
southeastern extremity of this hill, stretching out into low land
at the north side of the entrance to Broad Cove, is Paulas Point.

The hill takes its name from John Otis, an early settler with
Rev. Peter Hobart, in 1635, and who received a grant of land
here. He was the ancestor of the celebrated Otis family in
America.

The view from Otis Hill, like that from all the high hills of
Hingham and Cohassct, is exquisite. The waters of the bay, and
of Hingham harbor, with its picturesque islands, lie at one^s feet.
To the northeast and east, is the deep blue expanse of ocean, be-
yond the long, narrow neck of Nantasket Beach, which connects
the peninsular town of Hull with the mainland. Beyond Wind-
mill Point, Hull, the granite bastions of Fort Warren reflect the
light in the afternoon sun. Sliips and steamers on their course
lend life to tlie ocean view. The north shore melts to haze in the
distance. Islands dot the waters of Boston Bay, the white towers
of liglithouses surmounting some of them. To the northwest
looms tlie city, crowned with its golden dome. The Blue Hills
of Milton, the Mas-sa-chu-setls,

** rock-ribbed and aDcient as the son,"

rise against the western horizon. Fields and heavy woodlands lie
from the southwest to the southeast, interspersed with towns and
villages scattered here and there.

Daniel Webster greatly admired Otis Hill with its view, and
often visited it on his way to Marshfield. It is said that he had a
great desire to buy it and make his home thei*e, but feared that as
it was so near the city he could not hope for the seclusion which
a more distant spot would afford.

At the north end of Otis Hill is Walton's Cove, or Wampom
Cove, a slight indentation westward from the harbor, with very
pretty scenery about it, having a high rocky shoi*e on one side
and fine trees all about it. An early settler of 1635, William
Walton, owned land here, hence its name.

Beyond Walton's. Cove is Crow Point, a rounded hill extending
like a cape into the harbor. It was the first ancient landmark
sighted by the early ex])lo)er8 who sailed into Hingham Harbor,
and probably the first spot landed upon.

Before leaving this neighborhood, it will be well to take a look
at the islands. The tide is high, and a row about the bay will be
a fine thing this bright fall afternoon.

Taking a boat, then, at Crow Point, we will pull over first to
Ragged Island, the westernmost of the group lying next the
shore. This island, well-named, is a very picturesque mass of

TOL I. — 12

178 History qf Hingham.

■\
rock, and the scarlet and yellow of the sumacs, and other wild
shrubs, form a fiery contrast to the deep olive green of tlie savins
here and there among the ledges. At half-tide, the rusty under-
water coloring of the rocks of these islands, supplemented by the
dark, yellowish-russet tints of the rockwced, which only grows
submerged on the ledges, is very interesting in an artistic point
of view.

East of this lies Sarah's (Sailor^s, or Satles's) Island. This
is also the summit of a great rocky ledge rising up from the
water, and clothed with sumacs and other shrubs.

Towards the head of the harbor, hardly a mile south, lies
Button Island. This little heap of rock and gravel, bearing no
trees nor shrubs and but little grass, is not worth visiting. But
one other remains to be noticed, Langlee's Island (in early days
Ibrook's), which is a beautiful spot. Steep ledges surround it,
except for small intervals, where there are gravelly beaches, upon
one of which stands a fine linden. Shrubs abound upon the
uplands. It will be, in a few years, yet more beautiful than
now, thanks to the enlightened taste of the gentleman wlio owns
it. He has planted many small trees, which will eventually cover
it with forest growth, as was originally the case when the country
was settled, and restore it to the condition in which all the islands
of Boston harbor should be. Had they been kept so for the past
two centuries, the forces of erosion would not have succeeded in
practically sweeping some of them from the face of the earth, and
destroying the contour of all. Richard Ibrook, who probably
owned this island very early, came in 1635.

As we row ashore again, those few light clouds in the west are
taking upon themselves from the declining sunbeams colors yet
more gorgeous than those of the fall foliage, and we have a fine
opportunity of admiring one of those superb sunsets for which
Hingham harbor is justly celebrated. Glowing, as it does, over
the waters of the bay and across the western hills, it presents a
splendor which no locality in the world can surpass.

Although twilight is short at this season, there is yet time for
a ride around the shore before the gloaming is upon us ; and
as we left our horses here, let us mount at once and follow the
road around the north side of Crow Point, and then the beach
along the foot of the fine hill next west of it, the bank of which
is bordered by a heavy growth of Lindens, Canoe Birches (very
rare hereabouts), and other trees. This is Pleasant Hill. Be-
yond it are Planter's Fields, or Planils, and another of those
Damde Meddowes which our ancestors rescued from the inroads
of the sea wherever they could do so to advantage. Between the
southerly slopes of Crow Point and Pleasant Hill, and Walton^s
Cove on the south, is a slight eminence called Tucker^s or Tuck*
er's Hill. John Tucker was an early settler, coming in 1635.

The beach west of Pleasant Hill is Gardner's or Garnett'b
(Garner's) Beach.

Ancient Landmarks. 179

Beyond Pleasant Hill is the mouih of Wetmouth Back Riyeb,
here an arm of the sea. At this point is Huet^s (Hewitt^b)
Cove, which with tlie land in its vicinity, including the localities
formerly known as The Wigwam and The Captain's Tent, is a
beautiful and romantic spot. The cove itself is an indentation
formed by a low rocky point making out to the westward, the
opposite shore being a steep ledge or precipice, the upper -part
covered with canoe birches, oaks, and other forest trees in pro*
fusion. The rolling contour of the country here, embracing
pretty open fields, alternating with savin and linden thickets
extending to the verge 6f the beaches, gives a charmine vsr
ricty to the landscape, while the water view is all that comd be
desired.

During the siege of Boston bv Washington, the English found
themselves in sore straits for forage. Learning of some bams
well filled with hay upon Grape Island, which lies off Hnet's
Cove, the British commander ordered a foraging party to pro-
ceed in boats to the island and secure the supplies, llie expe-
dition, however, was discovered, and the militia of Hingham and
vicinity were soon on the march down Lincoln Street to Hue^a
Cove, it being feared that the enemy intended landing there.
Finding, however, that their objective point was Grape Island,
a detachment was sent off which set the bams on fire before
the English could land. Being disappointed in their object, the
enemy returned to Boston without attempting a landing.

Among the fields at Huet^s Cove is a small tract formerly known
as Patience's Garden. Patience Pometick, the last Indian squaw
living in Hingham, used to gather roots and herbs here, and sell
them to the townspeople. In later days, and early in this cen*
tury, an eccentric colored woman called " Black Patty ** used to
visit Patience's Garden, and haunt the territory adjoining Huefs
Cove. Ui)on one occasion Patty was collecting herbs there, when,
happening to glance seaward, attracted by a peculiar and unac-
customed sound, the poor wretch's blood was frozen by what she
saw. A dark, uncouth looking monster was rapidly approaching
over the water, snorting black smoke with a spiteful sound, the
waves of the bay foaming behind it, and sparks of fire mingling
with the smoke which it belched forth. Patty waited to see no
more, but rushed over the fields and into the first house that she
could reach, screaming that the Fiend himself was close behind
her. Tlie monster which poor Patty had taken for the Enemy
uf Souls was \\\{t firBt Hingham steamboat coming into the harbor!

Farther up Weymouth River, and just before reaching the
bridge over which the Hingham and Quincy turnpike ran, there
is a high, partly wooded promontory, which imtil within a year
or two belonged to the town, and is known as Stoddard's (Stod-
dar's) Neck.

The old building nearest th'e bridge, on the north side of the
road was, in the days of the turnpike, the Toll House. From

r»*B iilrf^«itT<

180 HUUny of Hingham.

here a sharp ride orer Lincoln Street will take us into the village
about dusk. Until within twenty years this street only extended
west a short distance beyond Crow-Point Lane, and the first set-
tlers who laid it out called it Broad-Cove Street. It runs along
the northerly base of Squirrel Hill, near its junction with Crow-
Point Lane. The view from this hill almost equals that from
Otis HilL At the foot of Squirrel Hill were formerly Clat Pits,
where there were brick kilns.

The name of Broad-Cove Street was changed to Lincoln Street
in honor of Major-General Benjamin Lincoln, of the army of the
Bevolution. The General Lincoln Mansion, on the comer of
this and North Streets, is still occupied by his descendants. A
portion of it is upwards of two hundred and twenty years old.

About a dozen years since it became necessary to construct a
sewer on Main Street, to relieve the part of the road south of the
Old Meeting-House of surplus surface water. The line of this
sewer was laid out so as to run along in front of the hill upon
which stands the Derby Academy ; a part of which hill, as else-
where stated, was cut down; and the roadway lowered to the
present level. The rising ground thus removed was originally
part of the burial-hill, and Main Street here passes over where
the edge of the slope originally was.

Upon digging to build this sewer several skeletons were un*
earthed, which were identified as those of tlie Acadian prisoners
who died in Hingham ; for a number of those unhappy exiles were
sent here after their expatriation. Some of them lived for a time
in a small one-story house which stood on Broad-Cove Street, on
land which is now the southeast corner of Lincoln Street and
Burditt Avenue. In this house also were quartered, early in the
Bevolutionary War, Lieutenant Haswell and his young daughter,
who was afterwards the cclebmted Mrs. Rowson. Mr. Uaswell *
was a British officer, and collector of the customs at Hull, for
the King. He was for some time a prisoner-of-war in Hingham
and elsewhere.

On Lincoln Street, at the easterly side of the road, and at the
summit of the hill north of Fountain Square, stands a large, old-
fashioned house which was, sixty years since, Wilder's Tavern,
and yet earlier, The Andrews Tavern. There used to be a post -
in front of the porch, on which was a large golden balL

Another crisp, bright October morning, —

" when the ouiet light
Succeeds the keen and Irasty night; "

and what could be finer than this for further explorations among
the landmarks ? Let us start, therefore, in the direction of tlie
West End. The house next west of the General Lincoln man-
sion was in old times Setu Cushing*s Inn. Going up North

HOME OF GEK. BEKJAUIH UNCOUI.

HOME UF GEN. UENJAMIN LINCOLN.

-^^ -^ A

. APh ^ i^/^

Ancient Landmarki. 181

Street, we are all the time moving parallel with tlie Town Brook,
which rises iu Bare Swamp and flowB down, crossing South Street
at the West Hingham depot, thence easterly through the centre
of The Swamp, — a fresh meadow bounded by North, West, and
South Streets, and probably extending originally to the cove
which is now tlie mill pond, — to its outlet in the last-named local-
ity. The bridge across the brook, connecting North and South
Streets at the point near tlie Methodist church, is known as
Goold's Bridge. That one where these two streets approach
eacli other at the east end of The Swamp, is Marsh's Bridgs.
A short distance further west an old way called Burton's Lane
runs north from North Street toward Squirrel Hill.

At the last bend of North Street is a small hill, a spur of
Baker's Hill, known as Mars Hill. One of the oldest houses
in Hingham stands upon it.

After turning into Beal Street, Baker's Hill rises on the
right hand. It is one of the largest and highest hills in town,
and there is a superb view from the top. It derived its name
from the residence, at its foot, of Nicholas Baker, who with his
brother Nathaniel came with Rev. Peter Hobart in 1635.

Bcal Street, formerly The Turnpike between Hingham and
Quincy, and the direct road. to Boston until Lincoln Street was
cut through, was in early times Goold's (Gold^s) Lane, and ran
north until it readied tlie first hill. Then it divided into three
blind lanes. One led westward to Great Lots ; one northwest-
ward to the same locality; and one was SquirreLtHill Lanb,
which runs from Beal Street, north of Baker's Hill, to Squirrel
Hill. Edward Gold, from whom this lane took its name, was an
early settler. He was known as " the pailmaker.*'

A few rods from the junction of Beal with North Street, Hock-
ley Lane runs west from Beal Street to Hockley. Where this
lane bcjrins is Hockley Corner (another Hockley Corner is on
Fort-Iliil Street). Hockley is an extensive district, consisting
of hundreds of acres of rolling country, embracing fine meadows,
woodlands, and a beautiful water front on Wevmouth Back River.
It is one of the most attractive localities in Hingham. TuCKER^S.
Swamp is situated north of Hockley Lane. In former days the
cutting and drying of peat for fuel was quite an industry at this
place. There were about twenty-five buildings then standing in
the vicinity, used for the storage of dried peat.

Near the foot of the lane is Hockley Run, which empties into
the river at Beal's Cove, a pretty indentation here. Two other
small runs flow into the river near by. The old crossing knovni
in early days as London Bridge was not far distant.

The territory north, about Lincoln and Beal streets, including
the Almshouse and Town Farm, was formerly denominated
(Jreat Lots. Stowell's Hill is on Weymouth River, near the
Alms House.

Returning to Beal Street, and crossing the head of the Swamp,

182 History of Hinghanu

oyer West Street, we turn to the right into Fort-Hill Street, which
passes over Fokt Hill, about a quarter of a mile farther south-
west. The old name was Nichols's Hill, until, in the time of
King Philip's War, a fort was built upon it for protection against
Indian attacks, and the name was changed to Fort HilL When
the top of the hill was cut off, the lines of the old fort were oblit-
erated. Near the end of this sti-cet, and close to the Weymouth
line, is Fbesh Rivek, a little stream rising in Bare Swamp and
emptying into Weymouth Back River. A small branch of this
flows from the neighborhood of Nutty Hill across Hobart
Street The bridge across Fresh River at Fort-Hill Street is
West Bridge. The one over it on French Street is French's
Bridge. At the comer of Fort Hill and French streets is a
small sheet of water through which this little stream flows, called
Round Pond.

New Bridge Street, which runs in a southerly direction from
Fort-Hill Street, crosses Fresh River, passes through Bare
Swamp, and skirts the easterly side of Great Hill, which lies .
between it and Hobart Street. Bare Swamp was, like all mead-
ows found already cleared of forest by the early settlers, very
valuable to them, for the reason that such lands afforded for-
age for their cattle. In their system of valuation meadow
{)roperty was rated highest, com lands next, and woodlands
east. How tlie preseut estimate would reverse this if a portion
of the magnificent primeval forest which they found were yet
standing! Bare Swamp, when they came, was found to have
been cleared by the beavers, and received its name from its. being
bare of trees. Those animals, evidently plent}' up to that time,
had by their dams across the watercourses, overflowed the vicin-
ity. This had, perhaps, been the case for centuries, at least for
so long a period that the trees had died out and fallen, and
meadow land was the natural consequence.

Great Hill is rather a barren height, as are most of the small
eminences about it; but interspersed among these are various
little green and fertile meadows. Some of tliem are. under culti-
vation, others growing up to woods, which it is to be hoped will
advance up the slopes of the hills, thus increasing their value
and enhancing tlieir beaufy. The neighborhood is of great in-
terest to the geologist, exhibiting as it does, remarkable traces
of the occupancy of this region by the great glacier. Pigeon
P1.AIN is a sandy tract of land between ^e Great Hill district _
and High Street. It was in early days a haunt of the wild
pigeons.

Soutli of Hobart Street, and between it and High Street, lies
Hemlock Swamp. At the corner of French and High streets is
NuTTT (or Nutter's) Hill, so called because the early settlers
found walnuts there in great abundance.

Beyond High Street is Ward Street The portion of this road.
Old Ward Street, which used to be a highway running nearly

184 History of Hingham.

River, on Wliiting Street, we come upon Gushing Street, crossing-
the old turnpike. We will turn to tne right and proceed a few
rods until we strike Derby Street, which leads from the intersec-
tion of (Jardner witli Whiting Street, westward into Wejmoutti.
This country is all in the old Fourth Division. Ancient land-
marks are plentiful in this corner of Hingham, although many
of them can with difficulty be distinguished, owing to the country
being now extensively covered with woods where formerly were
farms. Consequently, in most cases their location merely can be
pointed out.

South of Derby, and immediately west of Gardner Street, liea
Huckleberry Plain, famous for the abundance of the fruit from
which it derives its name. West of this, and south of Derby «
Street are the Farm Hills. Between Derby and Abington Street
and Rockland, is Mast Swamp, where formerly grew very large
pines, suitable for masts of vessels. North of Derby Street, and
between it and Whitin<r Street, are the Smooth Hills. To the
south again are the Three Hundred Acres, a tract once be-
longing to Madam Derby. Derby Street was named in honor
of this lady. Just before this street enters Weymouth, it passes
through MusQUiTO I^ain, so' called from the supposed super*
abundance of these insects.

Retracing our course over Derby Street, we will turn inta
Gushing Street and proceed almost due north. Between this
street, \Vliitiug Street, and Plymouth River, is Breakneck Hill^
now not a specially perilous descent where it invades tlie high-
way, however steep it may formerly have been. East of Gushing
Street, at this point, is Hoop-Pole Hill, where great quantities
of trees were cut in the days when the mackerel fishery was in
its prime, to furnish hoops for the barrels made at the harbor -for
packing the fish. Woods now cover nearly all the hills in this
romantic and almost deserted portion of the town. A branch of
Plymouth River crosses and recrosses the road along the base of
these hills six times. The next point of interest is Mullein
Hill, a sharp ridge lying on the east side of the road. The
extensive growth of mullein in this locality in past days gave
this hill its name. The somewhat abrupt ranges next crossed,,
and extending west of the road, are those of the High Hills.

The country all about here has a ))eculiarly broken surface,
and the woods covering it are principally oak.

White-Oak Xeck lies between Plymouth River, just before it
enters Cushing's Pond, and Eel River, a little stream which
flows north, crossing Gushing Street, and also emptying into this
pond. The road turns abruptly to the eastward here, and crossea
the southerly extremity of Cushing's Pond, a pretty sheet of
water lying among wooded hills, upon the banks of which have
been carried on some of the most noted industries of the town.
Here is the Bucket Factory, where for generations were made
the celebrated ^^ Hingham buckets" which were sold, far and

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Ancient Landmark$. 185

wide, all over the country. It is proper to state, however, that
it was the manufacture of buckets by hand, at little shops else-
where in town, earlier than the establishment of this factory^
that liad procured for Hin^ham the sobriquet of ^Bucket Town.**
Here also were made the " Jacobs Hatchets ** esteemed for their
excellence and exported all over the world in days gone by.
Alas, alas ! how the mercantile, manufacturing, and maritime en-
terprises of Ilingham have faded away, never to reappear. The
Thomas Iron Foundry at Thomas's Pond on Weir River, the
Eagle Foundry at the harbor, the Bucket Factory and Hatchet
Works at Cushing's Pond, the Cordage Factory, the Iron Works
and Factory at Trii>IIammer Pond, — the productions of all these
various industries were justly appreciated both in this country
and abroad, and none more so than those of the Stephenson Scale
Works. The shipyards of Ilingham ?— HalPs, Souther\ and
others — launched as noble vessels as slliled under the flag. The
fishing interests of the toM*n emplo3'ed a large fleet of fine schoon-
ers, well commanded and manned by hundreds of her stalwart
young men. These interests built up moi*e than one fortune^
larj^e for those days.

The house near Main Street was one of the old inns of earlier
days. It was known as Brigadier Cushing^s Tavern. Reaching
Main Street, we will tuni to the right The first hill on the road,
going 30uth, was in early days called Mayse^s or Mat's, now
LiBEUTY Pole Hill. The country south of this locality, to the
town line, is called Liberty Plain.

At the foot of the southerly slope of this hill, a blind lane
leads west through the woods, towards Eel River. This is Eel-
River Lane. The gradual rise on Main Street from this point,
south, is called Dig- away Hill (in some old papers Didgeway).
Further on, to the west of the road, at Gardner Street, is Whitb-
Oak Plain. Half-way between Gardner Street and the town
line, at Gardner's Bridge, Main Street crosses Beechwoods
River, sometimes called Mill River, the little stream flowing
northeast from Accord Pond, which unites with others near the
centre of the township to form Weir River«

On the town line where Main Street meets "Queen Ann's Turn-
pike," now Whiting Street, is Queen Ann's Corner, and a few
rods to the west is Accord Pond, from which Hingham draws its
water supply. It is a beautiful sheet of water, of about three-
fourths of a mile in length, lying within the limits of three
towns, — Hinghara, Rockland, and Norwell (formerly South Scitu-
ate). The easterly shore is bordered by open country, the west
side generally heavily wooded. The forest in this vicinity is
largely composed of the Scarlet Oak, and at this season is in a
blaze of brilliant coloring.

It is a singular fact that of all the ponds of any considerable
size in Hingham, but one is a natural pond. All the rest, —
Cushing's, Fulling-Mill, Trip-Hammer, Thomases, and the Mill-

186

Hiriorjf of Hingham.

pond, are artificial. According to one tradition Accord Pond
received its name from the following circumstances.

A treaty with the Indians was about to be concluded by the
inhabitants of the adjacent country, and it was decided to as-
semble for the purpose at the point where the three towns of
Abington, Scituato, and Hingham at that time met, somewhere
near the middle of the pond which lay within the limits of these
three townships. The conference was held in winter, on the ice,
and was entirely successful, the questions at issue being settled
amicably. On account of the happy accord which manifested
itself between the contracting parties, the sheet of water received
from that time the name of Accord Pond.

There are other traditions of similar import, but this one
seems the most interesting.

One other large natural pond was within the original limits of
Hingham, — Scituate Pond ; but it lies in Cohasset, which town,
as previously stated, was set off from Hingham in 1770.

A small stream called' Slough River flows from the Farm
Hills across Gardner Street, and empties into the northern ex-
tremity of Accord Pond.

On Main Street, a long house, almost the last building in Hing*
ham before reaching the town line, was in the early part of the
century Sivbet^s Tavern. The old country taverns in those day^
were vastly more numerous than they are now, when the railroads
covering the country have rendered them superfluous.

And now that bright yellow sunset over there, beyond the Blue
Hills, indicates a fine day for to-morrow.

This bright morning follows appropriately in the wake of the
past few perfect days ; and now let us start for a stroll at the old
cove itself. From the Mill bridge, passing west through North
Street (the old Town Street of the early settlers) we come within
a few rods to where the road bends slightly to the right Here,
where the mill pond contracts to half its previous width, there
was in the early days of the town, a second mill, and mill-dam
across to the cemetery hill. A short distance farther west is
Ship Street on the right, in old times Fish Street. At this
spot the early settlers with Rev. Peter Hobart landed from
their boate.

The old houses on either comer of Ship and Noiih Streets were
formerly the Waters Taverns. An old house next to the one of
these two on the westerly corner, was the Nye Tavern. Here is
where certain British officers, quartered in town as prisoners of
war during the Revolution, were brought for their meals. The
old house next west of the Nye Tavern, standing on rising ground,
witli many trees about it, the Gat Mansion, was the home of the

Ancieni Landwiarkim 187

Rev. Dr. Gay, long the celebrated pastor of tiie Ilrrt Pariah.
Immediately west of this stands a building wliich^ now enlarged
and rebuilt, was in its original condition the home of the Bey.
John Norton, the second pastor of the First Parish.

Opposite this spot, South Street enters North Street diagonally.
This road also was termed Town Street when laid out by the
first settlers. At its very beginning it crosses the Town Brook
by Magoon's Bridge.

Fussing on a few rods more, we come to Main Street, which
runs south from the railroad depot On the easterly comer of
Cottage Street, which enters North Street opposite Mun, stands
the Gushing House, formerly the Union Hotel, and earlier vet^
Little & Morey's Tavern. This was a noted old inn in its day.
Next east of it is a very old house, which was one of the ^ Oab^
RisoN-HOUSES '' of the time of King Philip's War.

Main Street crosses the Town Brook by Broad Bridge. The
old bridge, notwithstanding its name, was formerly hardly wide
enough for two teams to pass abreast, and a watering place for
horses and cattle existed by the roadside where it crossed the
brook. It is related that a worthy citizen, hurrying in a violent
thunder storm to fetch the doctor, was obliged to wait for a flash
of lightning to show him the bridge, which in the darkness was
quite invisible. There is no locality in Hingham of which the
name has a more familiar sound than that of the ** Broad Bridge**
Very near it, on both sides of the road, stood many of the shops
where the town wits and celebrities used in the old times to
gather in the winter evenings to talk over news and politics,
crack jokes, and tell stories, bome of which have come down to
posterity with all their pristine savor. Pertinent to this subject
may be a little circumstance which took place at a fine colonial
mansion hard by, where dwelt in former days a gentleman of tiie
old Hingham school. Squire Blank. Some French oflicers who
had served with General Lincoln under Washington, were travel*
ling in this country, and came to Hingham to pay their respects
to the old general. Squire Blank gave a soiree in their honor,
and considered himself in courtesy bound to converse in French
instead of the vernacular. Consequently, after welcoimng his
foreign guests, he launched into a general conversation with the
most prominent Frenchman, who stood gracefully bowing and
smiling, and using the most agonized endeavors to comprehend
the Squire's French. At last, in despair of coming at his enter-
tainer's meaning, he broke out dcprecatingly but vigorously, and
in the Squire's mother tongue, ^^ For Heaven's sake, Mr. Blank,
speak English if you can!*^

On North Street, facing Broad Bridge, where the Catholic
Church now is, there stood until recently a fine old colonial
mansion, having tapestried halls, and with some of the door,
panels decorated by sketches painted by the celebrated Madam

Hutorj/ of Bingham.

TRR THAXTXU HOUSi:,
VUck itood 00 Xottb 8tn(i gpporiu Bnat BiUgi^

Derby, — tlic old Tbaiter House. At tlic time of the Rcvolu-
tion it was owned and occii|iicd by a Mr. Eliiilia Lcavitt, who was
a bitter Tory. It was thought by tlic jiatriolR that he suggested to
the British commander, during the siege of Boston, the sending of
the ex)>cdition to Grape Island for the purpose of securing for-
age. To punish liim for this, a mob assembled and started for bfB
house, with the idea, jwrhaps, of destroying the mansion, or pos-
sibly, even, of offering him ])ersonal violence. He got wind of
their coming, however, and had a barrel of ruin rolled out of hia
cellar in front of the house, with otlier rcfi-eshments, sueh as
crackers and cheese, for the rank and file of the mob, while cake
and wine were provided in the house for the gentlemen leading
the populace. Upon the arrival of the crowd, they were invited
to help themselves to the refrcslimenta, while the gentlemen
aforesaid were received by Mrs. Ijcavitt in elegant dress, and
urged to walk in and partake of the wine. This nucxpeclod and
politic courtesy disarmed the fury of the Whigs, and the threat-
ened violence was drowned in good cheer.

Just beyond South Street the road formerly divided. Tlio prin-
cipal roadway came over the low hill upon which the Debbt
ACADEMT stands, the westerly portion of which has since been
cut down. The other road ran along the foot of this hill. Be-
tween the two roads on the high land stood the post-offlce, and
one or two other buildings. Several old gravestones also were

190 History of Hinghanu

above iail other buildings, and embowered in fine trees, it is too
well known to need description here. In simple, homely grand-
ear it towers there, a century older than the republic itself. If it
could speak so as to be heanl by mortal ears, what might it not
reveal of the dead and of the living, of the story of the past! But
to those who love Hingham and her history, it has a thousand
tongues which are never silent.

Main Street, as far as Pear-Tree Hill, which is the steep
bluff at the beginning of the Lower Plain, was, in the earliest
times, known as Bacuelor^s Rowe, or Bachelor Street.

Tlie salt marches east of the road, below Pear-Tree Hill, are the
Home Meadows.

Having surmounted Pear-Tree Hill, we are upon the Lower
Plain, which is a tract of mainly level country extending south as
far as Tower*s Bridge, on Main Street. But we will leave this
street and take Leavitt Street eastward. A large, low building
on the comer, under a noble buttonwood-trce, was, in former days,
Lewis's Inn. The large, old-fashioned building east of it was
once the old Almshouse.

Leaving the Agricultural Hall upon the left, we soon come to
Weir River, here crossed by Leavitt's Bridge. A short distance
further on, a way is reached winding off to the right and south,
which is Pope's Lane, or Pope's Hole. At the first turn on this
lane are the Clump Bars, known also to the boys of past generar
tions as Plumb Bars. This is evidently a corruption, as they de-
rived the name from being, in former times, near a clump of trees
when there were but few trees in the vicinity. The country there-
abouts had not then grown up to woodlands, but was devoted to
tillage or pasturage. Between this lane and Weir River lies
Rocky Meadow. Turning to the eastward, the way leads into
thick woods, in a rocky, rolling country, and among these, on the
right side of the lane, is the wild and romantic ledge known as
Indian Rock.

Nearly opposite this rock is Chubbuck's Well, and the cellar
of Chubbuck's House, which house itself was demolished in 1759.
This old well, now filled to the brim with leaves and ddbris, yet
shows the carefully built wall, as good now as when constructed
by Thomas Chubbuck, who was an early settler in 1G34.

Further down the lane there is a rocky place in the woods
called The Hogpen.

The lane, turning westward, crosses Trip-Hammer Pond by a
causeway. Tliis pond is formed by Weir River, which flows --
through it. There were formerly iron works here, with a trip-
hammer, and also a shingle factory.

Returning to Leavitt Street (the part of which leading into
Third Division Woods was the old Third Division Lane) we
will stop to look into James Lane, now so overgrown with woods
that it cannot be distinguished, except by its location, from other
cartways into the forest. It leads to James Hill, in Cohasset.

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192 History of Hingham.

A few feet away from the above, was also cut the following : ^—

"This Ixscription

WAS WROUGHT BT HOSEA SpRAGUC,

A NATIVE OF HlNGHAX,

WHO WAS A TRAVELLER HERE

JuLT 4th, 1828.''

It was regarded as a great curiosity, and would have been more
and more interesting as time passed on. But, unhappily, in the
year 1833 certain persons considered tliat the only value in the
great rock was the handful of dollars which it would bring for
building purposes, and it was blown to pieces and sold for a
pittance.

As one mounts higher and higher upon this hill, or rather upon
this series of heights, the view in all directions grows more and
more beautiful, until, when the top of Turkey Hill is reached, it
may l)e called sublime.

Look at it now in this red October sunset ! To the east on the
horizon lies the deep blue line of the broad Atlantic, which sweeps
round toward the north. North and northwest are the headlands
and islands of the bay. In the extreme distance in this last di-
rection the sun^s rays flame upon the roofs and towers of the city.
In the nearer space they are reflected in golden light from the
placid waters of the harbor. Weir River shines between the

geen meadows, almost at our feet, like a silver thread. Tlie Blue
ills are misty in the far west. Villages and houses speck the
landscape here and there. That great hill to the southeast is
SciTUATE Hill.

Now turn southwards. Tliere are brilliant woodlands in the
other directions, but what a glory of scarlet, yellow, and green
from the painted forests that stretch away to the southern hori-
zon's edji^c here ! This surpasses any other Ilingham view.

In the War of 1812 people came to this hill on a sorrowfulJune
day to see a famous naval duel. The British frigate " Shannon **
had been cruising oi¥ Boston harbor, and the captain sent a chal-
lenire in to Captain Lawrence, who commanded the frigate " Chesa-
peake," then lying at the navy yard, her crew having been paid off.
The American officer gathered as good a crew as could be ob-
tained from the sailors in port, and liurriedly set sail to meet the
enemy. The encounter was off Rcituate, and was very sanguin-
ary. * In the midst of it the brave Lawrence fell, mortally
wounded. As they carried him below he cried, " Don't give up
the ship ! '* But with his fall, the Americans lost heart, and
after a hopeless strnjrgle they were forced to surrender. A sad
and wretched pageant for the sj>ectators on Turkey Hill and along
the shore !

Turkey Hill lies mostly in Hingham, but a part is in Cohasset.
Its name was bestowed on account of tlie early abundance of wild
turkevs there.

Ancient Landmarki. 198

In descending the bill at the easterly end, we leave the old waj
and pass over a private road, which has been laid out throogh the
dark pine woods, winding beautifully down the slope till it reaches
Side-Hill Road, following which, northward, we come out of
these charming woods upon East Street, which we will turn into
and proceed toward Cohasset The Battery Pasture, or The
Battert, was near Side-Hill road. The origin of the name is
obscure. There is a very sineular tongue of Hingham territory
which extends over half a mile into Cohasset, and is known as
The Homesteads. It is only a few rods in width, and tapers off
to nothing at the railroad crossing at its east end. ^ Tlie Home-
steads ^' were the home lands of certain of the inhabitants, who,
soon after Cohasset was laid off from Hingham, petitioned to be
allowed to have their lands here re-annexed to Hingham. On
the north side of East Street are the Turkey Meadows, and the
little stream vhich crosses the road from tlie south and eventu-
ally flows under Lambert's Lane, emptying finally into Lyford's
Liking River, is Turkey-Hill Run.

Retracing our course, we come back to where Side-Hill Road
ends on East Street Near this junction once stood the Black-
Horse Tavern, a famous resort for gunners and persons on their
way to or from Hull. Ebenezer Beal was the old-time host of this
inn.

Hull Street leads north from this point to Nantasket Beach.
From the extreme northwesterly part of "The Homesteads'* it
forms the boundary line between Hingham and Cohasset. About
lialf a mile from the railroad crossing, Canterbury Street leads
away on the left, through the district called Canterbubt.

The village on Hull Street, extending from Canterbury Street
to Jerusalem road, is known by the singular name of Tughanuo,
and it used to be one of the most quaint and interesting localities
along the shore. Its odd little houses, many of them having the
front door painted in most gorgeous hues, the rough and rocky
road, the queer little nooks and corners here and &ere, and the
salty savor which pervaded the whole place, and the inhabitants,
whose characteristics were in some respects peculiar to a viUage
on the New England coast where wrecks were not uncommon,
lent a picturesque glamour to the hamlet and its people. Alas!
all this is gone now, and the charm which once hung over this
mysterious locality is fled forever. All is now " spick and span,"
tidy and humdrum.

This day, which will be the last of our wanderings among the
ancient landmarks, is far colder than the lovely Indian-summer
days which have been granted us until this morning, and sharp
riding will be necessary in order to keep comfortably warm.

We will turn back again to East Street and make our way west>
ward. That little road, crossing the railroad track and winding

YOL. I. — 18

194 History of Hingham.

through a rocky, shmbbj country and over high lands toward
Bockland Street, is Weir Street, once the old Weir-Riveb Lake.
It affords one of the beautiful and sequestered rides for which
Hingham and Cohasset are famed. The tract of high land lying
east of it, now largely overgrown by woods, used to be Great
Pasture.

A little further on, around a bend in the road, we come to
Cubbing's Bridge, across Weir River. Many fine ^ wine-glass
elms" are scattered here and there in the meadow by the river's
banks, and by the roadside, across the stream, is the magnificent
Old Elm, which was transplanted to this s|X)t in 1729, three
years before the birth of Washington. It is justly celebrated for
its size and symmetry. All the territory in this vicinity* from
Hull Street to Summer Street, has always been known as Rockt
Nook.

The road, after passing a row of sturdy red oaks on the left^
which must have been old trees when the Pilgrims lauded, reaches
a descent cut through a rough ledge and known as Rockt Hn.L.
Just beyond the high lands to the right is Cuamberlin's Swamp,
and the little stream running through the meadow, mrailel with
the road and crossing it at last, to empty into Weir Uiver at the
foot of the Agricultural Society's grounds, is Chamberlin's Run.
It is nearly dry in summer. The large white house between it-
and the Agricultural Hall, now a private residence, was, in the old
days, a tavern.

East Street ends at Leavitt Street, .passing over which west
to Main Street, we find ourselves in the middle of the village of
*^ Hingham Centre," upon Lower Plain, which extends from
Pear-Tree Hill to Tower's Bridge, as generally understood, al--
though the town book giving the '^ names of streets, lanes, plains,
and bridges, as established by the town May 7, 1827, and since,'^
gives the boundaries of Lower Plain, " Pleasant Street to Pear-
Tree Hill.''

Main Street runs through the village, passing The Common,
lying east of the public library, and on the west side of the road
at this point a fine old-fashioned residence, which was in earlier
days a tavern. A short distance beyond, opposite the Grand
Army Hall, is a deep depression on the north side of the road,
containing a small sheet of water, now hardly more than a

fuddle, which was often referred to in old deeds as Bull's
'OND. An Almshouse formerly stood on the site of the Grand
Army Hall.

After a turn to the westward, about a quarter of a mile further
on, the street turns abruptly south at Cold Corner, and a few
rods beyond is entered by Hobart Street, near the corner of
which was the old Town Pound, where stray cattle were im-
pounded. Half a mile or so beyond, the road crosses a little
stream by Tower's Bridge. From this bridge to the south line
of the town, the country bears the general title of Great Plain,

Atteunt Liuutmarkt.

OLAIVTIDIXat XOCX.

although particular portiona are mors specially designated. . The
road viuds up a slight rjse from Tower's BridEC.and Hi^ Street,
a few rods beyond, runs west to Wcrmoutb. Just off this street
is Whitd-IIo'rse Posd. Free Street is opposite to High, on
Main Street, and runs east to Lascll Street. Just north of Free
Street is a small conical height called Cboit Hill, formerlj a
famous resort for the birds of that featlier. Near bj is Cbov-
Hiu, Swamp.

A short distance further south Main Street crosses the stream
coming from Cushing's Pond by Wildeb's Bridge. From this
bridge to Maysc's (Liberty Pole) Hill, is Glad-Tidixgs Plaix.
After surmouQting another rise in the road, we find on the vest
side the church of the Second Parish.

This village is South Hingham, and the street is Tcrj wide
and straight for a long distance, running between extensive
bordering lawns and line rows of trees. Back of the houses
on the east side is a high granite ledge, known as Glao-
TiniNca Rock.

In King Philip's War, a famous hunter, John Jacob by name,
went out to shoot deer near where the church now stands. He is
said to have frequently declared that he never would allow him-
self to be taken alive by the Indians if he encountered tliem.
They ambushed and shot him dead near this rock, and one tra-
dition says tliat his friends, overjoyed to find that he had been
killed outright and not captured to be tortured to death by the
savages, called it Glad-Tidlngs Rock. Another tradition re-
counts that a woman, lost by her friends, was discovered by them
from the top of the rock, and that from this circumstance the
ledge received its name.

irtiliialiliMiili'i-ftiiiriiiiMiii-iiiiri -• rin i Ti min ■ilnn an

196 History of Hingham.

We will turn eastward into South Pleasant Street, on the cor-
ner of which is a notable mansion, the home of the celebrated
Rev. Daniel Shute, D. D., the first pastor of the Second Parish.
The house is inhabited at the present day by one of his lineal
descendants.

South Pleasant Street is shaded by noble elms, set out by
a former member of the old Gushing family; whose lands,
for generations, liave extended far and wide in tliis section,
and do still, for hereabouts the population is largely composed
of Cushings.

FuLLiNG-MiLL Pond is on the right of the road, and at its out-
let, which is a little stream called Fulung-Mill Brook^ once
stood the FuLUNG Mill. Tlie bridge across this brook is Pagers
Bridge. Between Page's Bridge and LascU Street, on the south
side of the road, is Little Pond. This is a sluice-way of clear
water which never freezes, and is on a piece of land of about
three acres in extent, which was leased by the town to the Rev.
Dr. Shute for nine hundred and ninety -nine years ! The hill be-
yond Page's Bridge is rightly named Stony Hill.

Now we will strike off into Lascll Street, a wild and pretty
road, winding mostly through woods and between shrubby way-
sides.

On the easterly side of this street, about one eighth of a mile
from Free Street, and just north of a rocky rise, there is in a
thickly overgrown and woody field, the Old Lasell Pine.

It seems probable that this ancient giant may be one of the few
mighty trees yet remaining of the primeval forest. The shat-
tered branches, rent by the storms of ages, would themselves
form large trees, and the vast tinink, standing grimly amid its
own ruins, presents but a picturesque suggestion of the old pine's
earlier majesty.

Rocky Run is a little stream flowing under the street.

Entering Union Street, we find that Fearing's Bridge crosses
Weir River a short distance further northward, where it flows
among willows. Now, turning about, we will keep to the south-
ward over this street. At the first bend to the east, on rising
ground, there is a gateway, through which a cart road leads to
Trip-Hammer Pond. A short distance beyond this gateway Long-
Bridge Lane i-uns eastward from Union Street, winding through
woods to granite quarries, and then crosses Bcechwoods River.
Near the entrance to this lane is Coal-Pit Hill. A few rods
further south the road crosses Bcechwoods River at Sprague's
Bridge, and then passing the place where South Pleasant Street
enters it, rises on to liigh land, and over what is called The
3I0UNTAIN, or Mount Blue Road, Mount Blue being in Norwell
across the line.

The view west and south from this vicinity is very fine, and
the drive over, this road, thence over Beechwood Street into
Cohasset, is a most delightful one.

Ancient Landmark$. 197

Beecbwoods is a very sparsely settled district, mostly heavily
wooded with beech and oak, and with much <rf the beautiful
holly growing at inter^^als. That rare and delicate shrub, the
ink-berry, is not uncommon on the open roadsides of Union
Street,

Retracing our way, and taking South Pleasant Street, we will
turn south into Charles Street by Stony Hill. Here is Mast-
Bridge Plain, where formerly fine masts were cut from the for-
est to equip the vessels building at the harbon Hast-Bridgb
Meadows lie along Beecbwoods River. This little stream is
crossed by Kersey's Bridge. The noble height to the east is
Prospect Hill, the highest in Hingham. llie view from the
summit is very extensive.

After crossing Hersey*s Bridge the road turns southward. To
the westward is The Wigwam, a most interesting locality. Here
dwelt the Indians in considerable numbers, and the stone fire-
places of their wigwams were standing within the remembrance
of persons now living. 3Iany of their implements of domestic
use and of the chase have been found here.

There remains but one part of Hingham which has not been
explored for the landmarks. To cover that, we will start at Ciold
Corner and take Central Street, a road laid out within a few
years, which near the Ropewalks runs over a marsh which was
once known as Christmas Pond. No trace now remains, however,
which would indicate that a pond had ever existed here. Turning
west into Elm Street, we soon pass over rising ground, the portion
of which on the right, between Elm and Hersey streets, was called
Powder-House Hill. A red Powder House formerly stood
upon it, in which was stored a supply of gunpowder. It was
moved here from the hill just north of the New North Church,
on Lincoln Street.

Near the corner of Elm and Hersey streets, there stood until
within a few years a l>eautiful wood, known as Tranquilutt
Grove. It was long made use of for picnics and various other
sorts of gatherings, social, political, and religious. The early
abolitionists used it for some of their stirring meetings.

The lower part of Hersey Street, from Elm to South streets
was in early times Austin^s Lane, taking its name from Jonas
Austin, one of the first settlers in 1636, who had his homestead
granted on Town Street (now South) at the north end of this
lane.

South Street, which was, like North Street, first called Town
Street, begins at North Street opposite the old Gay mansion, im-
mediately crosses Magoon's Bridge, and runs west. After cross-
ing Main Street, and just before Lafayette Avenue is reached, it
until within three years passed by a homely old provincial build-
ing, which was in the last century the Anchor Tavern. General
Lafayette once lodged in it when he had occasion to pass the
night in Hingham, during the Revolutionary War. It was the

fKMtiiiMi«MliM«lMMHH*farfiihite*iU*iMMft0MMh

198 History qf Hingham.

country home of John A. Andrew, the war governor of Hassar
chusetts, for one summer during the great rebellion. The short
street which connects South with North Street, immediately west
of the railroad depot, crosses the town brook, and is known as
Thazter's Bridge. In the old days the Whipping Post was
located here. About a quarter of a mile further on, and a few
rods east of Austin's Lane (now Hersey Street), formerly stood
the old Pine-Tree Tavern. On the site of it there now stands
a large white house which was built by General Lincoln for his
son-in-law and private secretary, Mr. Abner Lincoln. The road
runs west and enters Fort-Hill Street after crossing the Town
Brook at Derby's Bridge. On the south side of the street at
this point formerly stood the mansion of Madam Derby, who
applied the property left for the purpose by her first husband.
Dr. Ezekiel Hersey, to founding Derby Academy. Many stories
are told of this able but eccentric woman. Among others is this
one, applicable to her home.

She had a rustic seat arranged among the branches of one of
the trees near her house, from which she could observe her la-
borers in the fields. She was upon one occasion sitting tliere
decidedly in dishabille, when she saw a carriage some distance
off, containing visitors whom she had expected to arrive later
in the day, but with whom she was not well acquainted. She .
jumped down from her perch, ran round to the back of the house,
caught a brace of chickens on the way, twisted their necks and
flung them to the cook with orders to broil them for dinner at
once, ran through the house, and (her house sen'ants not being
at home) received the guests, who did not know her in her r81e
of servant, showed them to their rooms, and hastening to her •
own, dressed and descended to the parlor to welcome them as'
Madam Derby ; and they did not recognize the servant who had
ushered them to their apartments in the lady of the mansion
who received them in state.

When the money for the endowment of Derby Academy was
brought from Salem to Hingham by Nathan Lincoln and his wife
(he was a nephew of Dr. Ezekiel Hersey), it was concealed in
a bucket which stood on the floor of a chaise, between Mr.
and Mrs. Lincoln. Madam Derby caused stones in the cellar
wall of her house to be removed, and the money, enclosed
in woollen bags, was built into the wall, for concealment and
safety.

When this old mansion was burned, in the early part of this
century, there had been living in it people whose habits of life
were far from being such as invited the approval of the neighbors.
And certain old women wlio were gathered together watching its
destruction, averred that they saw fiends and witches ascending
in the smoke and dancing in the flames.

The nineteentli century would appear to be a little subsequent
to the era of unseemly performances on the part of individuals

tgmmif'^SitlitJtlSamtmm - m mnt m m-^t tm^^ ^ m i i

200 History of Hinghanu

the lives and deeds of the leading spirits of those families served
as landmarks in the annals of the Great Republic; which is
herself the brightest landmark in the present, as we devoutlj
hope she will be for the ages of the future, in the histoxy of
mankind.

^tgatmttmm^mimmmmimm

202 History of Hingham. - . ^

was sworn as constable of the place. There was a considerable increase of
the number of settlers, and in that year grants of land were made to up-
wards of fifty indlTiduals, of which a record is preserved. It was in June
of that year that Rev. Peter Hobart arrived at Charlestown, and soon after
settled in this place.

** I here subjoin the names of those who settled or received grants of
land here, in the respective years mentioned. Possibly there may be some
names omitted, which have escaped my observation, and those of others in-
serted to whom lands were granted, but who never settled here. The list
is as perfect, however, as long, careful, and patient examination of public
and private records can make it.

^In 1635, in addition to those before-mentioned (namely: Joseph An-
drews, Thomas Chubbuck, Henry Gibbs, Edmund Hobart, Sen«, Edmund
Hobart, Jr., Joshua Hobart, Rev. Peter Hobart, Thomas Hobart, Nicholas
Jacob, Thomas Lincoln, weaver, Ralph Smith), were Jonas Austin, Nicliolas
Baker, Clement Bates, Richard Betscome, Benjamin Bozworth, William
Buckland, James Cade, Anthony Cooper, John Cutler, John Farrow, Daniel
Fop, Jarvice Gould, Wm. Ilersey, Nicholas Hodsdin, Thos. Johnson, An-
drew Lane, Wm. Large, Thomas Loring, Greorj^e Ludkin, Jeremy Morse,
WiUiam Nolton, John Otis, David Phippeny, John Palmer, John Porter,
Henry Rust, John Smart, Francis SmiUi (or Smyth), John Strong, Henry
Tuttil, AVllliam Walton, Thomas Andrews, William Amall, George Bacon,
Nathaniel Baker, Thomas Collier, George Lane, George Marsh, Abraham
Martin, Nathaniel Peck, Richard Osborn, Thomas Wakely, Tliomas Gill,
Richard I brook, William Cockerum, William Cockerill, John Fearing
John Tucker.

^^In 1636, John Beal, senior, Anthony Eames, Thomas Hammond,
Joseph Hull, Richard Jones, Nicholas Lobdin, Richard Langer, John
Leavitt, Thomas Lincoln, Jr., miller, Thomas Lincoln, cooper, Adam Mott,
Thomas Minard, John Parker, George Russell, William oprague, George
Strange, Thomas Underwood, Samuel Ward, Ralph Woodward, John
Winchester, William Walker.

''In 1637, Thomas Barnes, Josiah Cobbit, Thomas Chaffe, Thomas
Clapp, William Carlslye (or Carsly), Thomas Dimock, Vinton Dreuce^
Thomas Hett, Thomas Joshlin, Aaron Ludkin, John Morrick, Thomas
Nichols, Thomas Paynter, Edmund Pitts, Joseph Phippeny, Thomas Shave^
Ralph Smith, Thomas Turner, John Tower, Joseph Underwood, William
Ludkin, Jonathan Bozworth. '^

''In 1638 there was a considerable increase of the number of settlers.
Among them were, Mr. Robert Peck, Joseph Peck, Edward Gilman, John
Fonlsham. Henry Chamberlain, Stephen Gates, George Knights, Thomas
Cooper. Matthew Cushing, John Beal, Jr., Francis James, Philip James,
James Buck, Stephen Payne, William Pitts, Edward Michell, John Sutton,
Stephen Lincoln, Samuel Parker, Thomas Lincoln, Jeremiah Moore, Mr.
.Henry Smith, Hozoan Allen, Matthew Hawke, William Ripley.

"All of those preceding, who came to this country in 1638, took
passage in the ship ' Diligent,* of Ipswich, John Martin, master. In ad-
dition to these, the following named persons received grants of land in
the year 1 638, viz. : John Buck. John Benson, Thomas Jones, Thomas
Lawrence, John Stephens, John Stodder, Widow Martha Wilder, Thomas
Thaxter.

^In 1639 Anthony Hilliard and John Prince received grants of land.
The name of Hewett (Huet) and Liford, are mentioned in Hobart^s Diary,

riflUAi

Ead^ Settlen. 208

In that jeur, and in the DUrj the following names are fint found
in the reipecUve yean mentioned; in 1646, Borr^ in 1647^ Jamen
Whiton ; in 1649, John Lasell, Samnd Stowell; in 165S, Garnett and
Canterbniy.

^ The number of personi who came over in the ship * IKligent/ of Ips-
wich, in the year 1638, and settled in Hiugham, was one hundred and thirtj-
three. All tliat came before were forty-two, making in all one hundred
and seveuty-five. The whole number that came ont of Norfolk (chiefly
from Hingham, and iU vicinity) from 1633 to 1639, and settled in thin
Hingham, was two hundred and six. This statementi on the authority of
the third town clerk of Hingham, must be reconciled with the fact that
there waA a much larger numtor of settlers here in 1639 than would appear
from his estimate. They undoubtedly came in from other places, and 1 am
inclined to l>eHeve that there may be some omissions in Mr. Cushing's list.
It may be remarked here, that many of the names mentioned in the preTiona
pages are now scattered in various parts of the country. Many of the first
settlers removed to other places during the militia dlfficnlUes which occurred
within a few years afler the settlement of the town ; and a oonsiderahU
number had previously obtained lands at RehoboCh.

^ The earliest record to be found of the proceedings of the town in rd»>
tion to the disposition of the lands is in 1635. In June of that year grants
were made to a considerable number of individuals, and on the loth of
September, as has been before stated, thirty of the inhabitants drew for
house-lots, and received grants of other lands for the purposes of pasture^
tillage, etc.

^ It was in July, 1635, that' a plantation was erected here; and on the
2d of September following that, the town was incorporated by the name of
Hingham, from which it appears that there are but eleven towns in thia
State, and but one in the county of Plymouth, older than Hingham. I can*
not ascertain satisfactorily when the first meeting for civil purposes waa
held. It is stated by Mr. Flint in his century discourses, to nave been on
the 18th of September, 1635. There is as much evidence in our town re*
cords, and in those of Cushing's MSS. which I have examined, that the fint
town-meetiug was held in June of that year, as in September. The state-
ments in the same discourses, that the inhabitants of Hingham arrived in
1 635, and that they obtained deeds of land from the natives to form the
town previously to holding the first town-meeting, are unquesdonaUy erro-
neous, being at variance with our town records, Cushing's MSS., and the
Indian deed itself.

^ The house4ots drawn on the 18th of September, 1635, were situated
on the ^Town street,* the same which is now called North Street. During
that year the settlement was extended to " Broad Cove Street,' recently
named Lincoln Street. Id the year following, house-lots were granted in
the street now called South Street, and in the northerly part of * Bachelor
Street,' now Main Street.

'*Some idea of the relative wealth of several towns in 1635 may be
estimated from the followiug apportionment of the public rate for that
year. Newton and Dorchester were assessed each £26 5 ; Boston, £25 10 ;
Salem, £16; Hingham, £6; Weymouth, £4, etc In 1637 the number
of men furnished by this town to make up the number of one hundred and
sixty to prosecute the war against the Pequods, were six ; Boston furnished
twenty-six ; Salem, eighteen ; Weymouth, dve ; Medford, three ; Marble-
head, three. The assessment upon this town at the General Court in An-

[-_. A.^.. ». J ■ >

MiMMIIilHriMtfliiiMfiBiiaMlitaMiai^MitfiiM

204 History of Bingham.

gast following, was XS 10 ; the least, except that of Wejinoath, wUdi was
£6 1 6. Propertj and population appear to have been uneqnallj dbtributed
and often flactuating. In 1637 we find the first record of the choice of a
town clerk. Joseph Andrews was chosen, and in 1638 the first record of
the choice of assessors."

The following is a literal copj of the deed of the township of
Hingham, given by the Indians in 1665 : —

** Whereas divers Englishmen did former! j come (into the Massachosets
now called by the Englishmen New England) to inhabit in the dajes of
Chickatabutour fiither who was the Cheite Sachem of the sajd Massachnsets
on the Southward side of Charles River, and bj the free (Consent of our
sayd father did set downe upon his land and in the jeare of our Lord God
one thousand six hundred thirty and four divers Englishmen did set downe
and inhabit upon part of the land that was formerly our sajd fathers land,
which land the Englishmen call bj the name of Hingham, which sajd Eng-
lishmen thej and their heires and assosiats have ever since had quiet and
peaceable possession of their Towneshippe of Hingham by our likeing and
Consent which we desire tliey may still quietly possess and injoy and be-
cause ther have not yet bin any legall conveyance in writing passed from
us to them conseming their land which may in future time occasion differ-
ence between them and us all which to prevent — Know all men by these
presents that we Wompatuck called by the English Josiah uowChiefe Sachem
of the Massachnsets aforesayd and sonne and heire to the aforesayd Chick;
atabut ; and Squmuck all called by the English Daniel sonne of the afore-
sayd Chickatabut and Ahahden — Indians : for a valueable consideration
to us in hand payd by Captaine Joshua Ilubberd and Ensigne John Tliax-
ter, of Hingham aforesayd wherewith wee doe acknowledge ourselves fully
satisfy ed contented and payd and thereof and of every part and perceli
thereof doe exonerate acquitt and discharge the sayd Joshua Hubberd and
John Thaxter their heires executors and Administrators and ever}* of them'
forever by these presents * have given granted bargained sold enfeofi*ed and
confirmed and by these presents doe give grant bargaine sell Enfeoffe and
confirme unto the sayd Joshua Hubberd and John Thaxter on the behalfe
and to the use of the inhabitants of the Towne of Hingham aforesayd that
is to say all such as are the present owners and proprietors of the present
house lotts as they have bin from time to time granted and layd out by the
Towne ; All That Tract of land which is the Towneshippe of Hingham
aforesayd as it is now bounded with the sea northward and with the Kiver
called by the Englishmen weymoth River westward which River flow from
the sea ; and the line that devide betwene the sayd Hingham and Wey-
moth as it is now layd out and marked until it come to the line that devide
betwene the colony of the Massachusetts and the colony of New Plimoth
and from thence to the midle of accord pond and from the midle of accord
pond to bound Brooke to the flowing of the salt water and so along by the
same River that devide betwene Scittiate and the said Hingham untill it
come to the sea northward ; And also threescore acres of salt marsh on the
other side of the River that is to say on Scittiate side according as it was
agreed upon by the commissioners of the Massachnsets colony and the com-
missioners of Plimoth colony T6gether with all the Harbours Rivers
Creekes Coves Islands fresh water brookes and ponds and aU marshes unto

Earlg Seitlen. 205

the sajd TowDeshippe of Hingham belonging or any wajes app'tundng
with all and singular thapp*tenence8 unto Uie p*miiset or any part id them
belonging or anj wayei app'taineing : And all our right tide and interest
of and into the sayd p'inisses with their app'tenences and every part and
p'cell thertfof to have and to hold All the aforesayd Tract of land which la
the Towneshippe of llingbaro aforesayd and it bounded as aforesayd with
all the Harlx>urs Rivers Creekes Coves Islands frei^h water brookes and
ponds and all marshes ther unto belonging with the threescore acres of salt
marsh on the other side of the River (vis.) on Scittiate side with all and sin-
gular thapp*tencnces to tbe sayd p'misses or any of them belonging onto
the sayd Joshua Hubberd and John Thaxter on the behalfe and to the use
of the sajd inhabitants who are tlie present owners and proprietors of the
present huuse lotts in liiugham their heires and assignes from the before-
named time in the yeare of our Lord God one thouwnd six hundred thirtr
and four for ever And unto the only proper use and behoofe of the (ihej
sayd Joshua hubberd and John Thaxter and the inhalntants of tbe Towoe
of hingbam who are tlie present owners and proprietors of the present lioose
x>tts in the Towne of Hiogham their heires and assignes for ever. And the
said Wompatuck Squmuck and Ahahdeu doe hereby covenant promise and
grant to and with the ^ayd Joshua hubberd and John Thaxter on tlie behalfe
of the inhabitants of hingham as aforesayd that they the sayd Wompatnd^
Squmuck and Ahahdun — are the true and proper owners of the sayd bar-
gained p'misses with their app'tenances at the time of the bargune and sale
thereof and that the said bargained p'misses are free and deare and fredy
and clearely exonerated acquitted and discharged of and from all and mL
roaner of former bargaines sales guifts grants titles mortgages salts attach-
ments actions Judgements extents executions dowers title of dowers and all
other inenmberances whatsoever from the hegining of the world ontill the
time of the bargaine and sale thereof and that the sayd Joshua hubberd and
John Thaxter with the rest of the sayd inhabitants who are the present
owners and proprietors of the present house lotts in hingham they their
heires and Assignes the p'misses and every part and paroell thereof shall
quietly have hold use occupy possese and injoy without the let suit trouble
deniall or molestation of them the sayd Wompatuck : Squmuck and Ahad*
dun their heires and assignes : and Lastly tbe sayd Wompatuck : SqumudL
and Ahadun for themselves their heires executors administrators and as-
signes doe hereby covenant promise and grant the p'misses above demised
with all the libertys previledges and app'teuences thereto or in any wise be-
longing or appertaiucing unto the sayd Joshua Hubberd John Thaxter
and the rest of the sayd inhabitants of Hingham who are the present own-
ers and proprietors of tbe present house lotts their heires and assimes to
warrant acquitt and defend forever against all and all maner of right title
and Interrest claime or demand of all and every person or persons whatso-
ever. And that it shall and may be lawfull to and for the sayd Joshoa
Hubberd and John Thaxter their heires and assignes to record and enroll
or cause to be recorded and enrolled the title and tenour of these p'sents
according to the usuall order and maner of recording and enrolling deeds
and evedences in such case made and p'vided in witnes whereof we the
aforesayd Wompatuck called by the English Josiah sachem : and Squmuck
called by the English Dauiell and Ahahdun Indians : have heere unto set
our hands and scales the fourth day of July in the jeare of our Lord God
one thousand six hundred sixty and five and in the seaventeenth yeare of
the raigne of our soveraigne Lord Charles the second by the grace of God

206 History of Hinghanu

of Great Brittanie France and Ireland Einff defender of the fiuth Ac.
1665.

Signed sealled and delivered
In the preseuoe of ns :

Job X0E8HTBAX8 Indian

the marke of W william Mak-

ANANiAKUT Indian
the marke of 8 Robert Mam itm-

TADGiN Indian
John Hues
Mattias Q Brigos
the marke of r Jos Judkins

the marke ZQ of (l. a.) Wompa-

TUCK called by the English Josiah

cheif sacbem.
the marke J| of Squmuck (l. a.)

called by the English Daniell

Sonne of Chickatabnt.
the marke QQ of Ahauden (L.a.)

Josiah Wompatuck Squmuck Ahaliden Indians apeared p*8onalIy the
1 9th of may 1G68 and acknowledged this instmm't of writing to be theyr
act and deed freely and voluntary without compulsion, acknowledged
before

Jno. Leverett, AsL

It needs but a: glance at the names of the early settlers of Bing-
ham, as given above by Mr. Lincoln, to recognize the founders of
some of the most respectable and influential families of Massa-
chusetts. Few names are more distinguished in the annals of tiie
Commonwealth or nation than that of Gushing. There is reason
to believe that Abraham Lincoln was one of the many descendants,
from Hingham stock who have made it illustrious in American
histor}'. Nearly all of the names in the foregoing lists are still
familiar in this generation. These first settlers were men of
character and force, of good English blood, whose enterprise and
vigor were cedent in the very spirit of adventure and push which
prompted their outset from the fatherland and their settlement m
the new country. They were of the Puritan order which followed
Winthrop rather than of the Pilgrim element that settled at Ply-
mouth a few years earlier. The distinction between the two is now
well understood. The Pilgrims were Brownists or Separatists,
later called Independents, opposed to the national church, insist-
ing on separation from it, and reducing the religious system to
the simplest form of independent church societies.

Indeed it was natural that tlie spirit that led to reform and
greater simplicity in church methods and organization, which was
the aim of the Puritans, should go still further and demand entire
separation and independence, which was Separatism, and of which
the most illustrious type is found in the Pilgrims who sailed in
the " Mayflower," and' settled in Plymouth in 1620. It is to be
noticed that those who thus went to the extreme of ecclesiastical
independence were consistent in granting the same liberty to others
which they claimed for themselves ; and it is true that the Pil-
grims were more tolerant than the Puritans. Lying on the
border-line between the jurisdictions of Plymouth and the Massa-
chusetts Bay, the first settlers of Hingham are not to be too closely
identified with either. Tliey were within the outer limits of the

..—ukaflairiMUHiMyBriMlBMiyMlMMhM^MIM^MiA

Earlg SetOen. 207

Puritan colony, but from an early day they manifested a good deal
of independence of the Boston magnates ; and Peter Hobaifs de-
fiant attitude towards Governor Winthrop is one of the picturesque
features of that early time. There is sometimes, undoubtedly, an
inclination to exaggerate the religious element in the early settle-
ments of New England. It was a mixed purpose that animated
our forefathers. There was in them the genius of adventure and
enterprise which in later days has peopled our own West with
their descendants ; there was the search for fortune in new coun-
tries over the sea ; there was the spirit of trade and mercantile in-
vestment ; there was the hope of new homes, and the ardor of new
scenes, all clustering around what was unquestionably the central
impulse to find a larger religious freedom than the restrictions^
legal or traditional, of the old country afforded. This is evident
from the fact that while the population of Massachusetts grew
rapidly by accessions from England till the execution of Charles
the First, yet, as soon as that event happened, the republic of
Cromwell and the supremacy of Puritanism during his Protec-
torate were accompanied by a practical suspension of immigration
to New England. For the next two hundred years it had little
other growth than that which sprung from its own loins.

In these first settlements the ministers were the leaders. Their
influence was supreme. They gave tone to the tinis, and color to
history ; and the communities which they largely moulded seem^
as we look back upon them, to be toned by tlie ecclesiastical atmos-
phere which the clergy gave to them. But with all this there was
still all the time an immense deal of human nature. The picture
of the early time, if it could be reproduced, would present a body of
men and women engaged in the ordinary activities of life, culti-
vating the farms, ploughing the seas, trading with foreign lands
and among themselves, engaged in near and remote fisheries,
maintaining the school, the train-band, and the church, holding
their town-meetings, — a people not without humor, not altogether
innocent of a modicum of quarrel and greed and heart-burning, yet
warm with the kind and neighborly spirit of a common and inter-
dependent fellowship. The Massachusetts settlers indulged in no
mere dream of founding a Utopia or a Saints* Rest TTiey were
neither visionary philosophers nor religious fanatics. Their early
records deal with every-day details of farm and lot, of domestic
afifairs, of straying cattle and swine, of runaway apprentices and
scolding wives, of barter with the Indians, of whippings and stocks
and fines for all sorts of naughtinesses, of boundaries and suits, of
debt and legal process and probate, of elections and petty offices
civil and militarv, and now and then the alarum of war and the
inevitable assessment of taxes. They smack very much more of
the concerns, and the common concerns, of this world than of
concern for the next. They are the memoranda of a hard, prac-
tical life ; and if the name of Hingham now and then appears in
them during the first half-dozen years of its existence, it is in

,My.^.,.!..j,M^^^.^,.^i^ti^^^^.^^. ^^^^■■_ .f... ^--^-,^-1 ) imigmi ir^-^i 1 Mii

208 History of Hingham. -^

connection with a fine for bad roads, or leave to make ha? in
Conibasset meadows, or permission to use its meeting-bouse for a
watcb-bouse, or tbe appointment of a committee to settle its
difficulties witb Nantasket, or something of equally bomely import
There is in these records no cant nor sniffling, none of that pre-
tentious sanctimoniousness which is so flippantly charged upon
tbe Puritans. There is less reference to theology than to ways
and means ; and tbe practical question, for instance, of restraining
tbe liquor-traffic and evil, seems to have taxed tbe ingenuity and
attention of their law-makers and mapristrates very much as it
does in tbe case of their descendants. There is no waste of words
in tbe grim sentences, but a plain, wholesome dealing witb tbe
material needs of the colony. One cannot read them and not feel
tbe sense of justice and righteousness that inspired the leaders of
the settlement, and that sought, rigorously indeed but honestly,
to institute and maintain a commonwealth which should be ani-
mated by virtue, thrift, education, tbe sanctity and sweetness of
home, fear of God, and fair dealing among men. They were de-
veloping that sturdy, educating, self-reliant New England town
life which till forty or fifty years ago was so unique, but which
since then has gradually been disintegrated and changed by tbe
tremendous influence of the transportations of tbe railroad, tbe
wide scattering of tbe New England seed, tbe influx of foreign
elements, the rapid growth of large cities, tbe drain on rural
sources, and tbe general change from diffusion to consolidation,
and from tbe simplest and most meagre to tbe most profuse and
complex material resources.

MILITARY HISTORY.

BY WALTER L. BOUVlL

The story of the settlement of Hingfaam and of the strnggles,
employmeuts, and daily life of her first inhabitants, is one diner-
ing but little from that of many otlier of the older sea-coast towns
of New England. Alike in their oririn, their religion, and their
opinions, similar in their pursuits and experiences, menaced by a
common danger, and, with the exception of the Plymouth Colony
communities, influenced by the same hopes and purposes and
governed by the same laws, it was natural that in their growth
and development the little hamlets forming a frequently broken
thread from tlie Merrimac to Buzzard's Bay, should, K>r a con-
siderable period, bear a strong resemblance to one another. Yet
each, from the first, possessed those peculiar characteristics which
diiTercnces of wealth, the impress of particular families, and the
influence of vigorous leaders inevitably create. This individnaliam
was enhanced by the effects of time, of situation, and of intereeti
and in each grew up the legends, traditions, and local history
peculiar to itself.

If those of our o^^'n town are devoid of the dramatic and tn^o
incidents which light up the chronicles of Salem, of Deerfield, of
Hadley, and of Merry Mount ; if no Myles Standish with his mar-
tial figure, no Eliot with the gentle saintly spirit, and no Endioott
with fiery speech and commanding will, grace our story, and if no
battle-banner like that of a Lexineton, a Concord, or a Bunker
Hill, wreathes about us the halo of a patriotic struggle, there is
nevertheless within the pages of our modest records not a little to
awaken the absorbing interest which the tales of the grandfather
always bear to those of the younger generations. And the local
colorings, if not of unusual brilliancy, still glow for ns with all the
warmth of the home-hearth, and to the quaint pictures of the
olden time the mellowing of change and of years only adds a
hallowing lighL Tlie chapters, of which this is one, treating of
the forefathers and their descendants, from the religious, indus-
trial, social, educational, and public relations in which we find
them, are mainly for ourselves and our children, for our and
their use and pleasure, prepared with little ambition other than to
preserve and transmit a fairly accurate account of the birth and
growth of our native town, — one which even to this day is typical

TOL. I. — 14

jIMiyiiiiMilitfiiriMyMiiftiiMtf^^ i rfiir ■ " n i wdmfm ' f -ii i

210 History of Hingham. ^^

of those modem democracies which form the distinguishing char-
acteristic of New England. We cannot however isolate ours from
the other settlements which already, two hundred and fifty years
ago, formed, like it, parts of a complete commonwealth, with
established customs, diverse interests, and self-reliant spirit

It is interesting to observe these sturdy and half independent
plantations, bound together as they were by the common laws and
necessities, re-enacting, each within its own limits, much of the
complex life of the province at large. They were truly miniature
commonwealths, and the claims of the State and the claims of the
Church received as well the consideration of the people of the
village as of the deputies at the capital ; and the various commer*
cial, religious, and social interests made themselves felt alike in ,
the town meetings and in the legislative and council chambers.

In each town, too, was tlie military organization and establish-
ment, demanding and receiving from nearly every citizen active
participation in its exacting and stern requirements^ Like the •
civil authority it was, it is true, regulated and controlled largely
by the central government, but it nevertheless possessed, from
very necessity, much local independence.

To the story of its part in the life of Hingham this article is
devoted. And here it may not be inoppoilune to consider briefly
a phase in the history and policy of the colony, and indeed of the
other colonies as well, which has perhaps not at all times be^n
accorded its full value, and which is well illustrated in the record
and experience of our own town. From their situation and sur-
roundings the North American colonics were necessarily little
less than military provinces, whose armed forces were their own
citizens. Of them Massachusetts was the most prominent, and
her usual condition was that of an armed peace, with many of
the incidents of martial law, not infrequently broken by open hos-
tilities with her Indian and French neighbors. For more than
one hundred years succeeding the organization of the government,
a large portion of the legislative enactments pertained to the arm-
ing and disciplining of the inhabitants, to tlie erection of forts,
the purchase of military stores, and to other measures of defence
and offence ; and no inconsiderable part of her expenditure was
for the raising and equipping of troops, and for expeditions against
the Indians and against Canada. The laws on these subjects were
frequent, minute in their details, and often severe in their require-
ments; and they affected not only the individual citizen, but
reached the towns in their corporate capacity and prcscribed their ~-
duties as welL

These enactments, with frequent experience in actual service,
produced not only a hardy, disciplined, trained citizen soldiery
ready for the emergency of the hour, but, continued as they were
through the legislation of a century, they created the military tra-
dition, knowledge, and discipline which were of such inestimable

Mikilll

tfk

tfil«^MftytaaMidyMMHlfeifcirttt«AilMCUk

hiUM

212

History of Hingham,

These disasters were probably in 1617 or thereabouts. Only a
little earlier, in 1614, Smith says : ** The sea-coast as you pass
shows you all along large corn-fields and great troupes of wdl
proportioned people.** Others computed the number of warriors
at from eight thousand to twenty-five thousand. They were
divided into a number of nations, and these again into tribes. Of
the former, some of the principal were the Wampanoags, ruled over
by Massasoit, a life-long friend of the English, and whoso domin-
ion lay between Cape Cod and Narragansett Bay ; the Narragan-
setts, who lived in Rhode Island upon the western coast of the bay
of that name, and whose chiefs were Canonicus and Miantonomo;
the Pequods, under Sassacus, whose territory lay between the Mys-
tic and the Thames, then the Pequbd River, in Connecticut ; and ^
the Massachusetts, under Chickatabut, who occupied the territory *
to the south of Boston and extending as far as Duxbury. In 1633
Chickatabut was succeeded by Josiah Wompatuck. In addition to
the above there were the Pawtuckcts north of the Charles River,
and the Chur-Churs and Tarantincs in Maine. All played a part
more or less important in the history of the New England settle- •
ments. Hingham, it will have been noted, lay within the land
ruled, until just about the time the first settlements were made
here, by Chickatabut ; and it was his son and successor, Wompsr
tuck, together with Squmuck and Ahahden, who joined in 1668
in conveying to the English the territory now comprised in the
towns of Hingham and Cohasset For many years the intercourse
between our forefathers and their red neighbors seems to have
been peaceable and agreeable. '

The earliest known settlement of Hingham was made sometime
in the year 1633, and the first houses were probably located upon
what is now North Street, and near the bay which the erection of
tide gates has converted into the Mill Pond. This little arm of
the sea although fordable at low tide was still of sufficient depth to
float craft of a size considered respectable in those days ; and many
a fishing smack has ridden out in safety the gales of winter
under the lee of the protecting hills which surrounded it, and
upon whose sunny southern slopes were perhaps the first cleared
lands in the town.

Up it, too, sailed one day in the summer or early autumn of
' 1635, the Rev. Peter Hobart and his company ; they landed, as
we are told, on the northerly shore about opposite to where Ship
and North streets intersect, and here in the open air, the first
public religions services were held. Not far from this spot, and .
but a few rods in front of where Derby Academy now stands, and
upon a part of the hill long since removed, was erected the first
meeting-house. This was a plain square building, low and small
as compared with modern churches, but constructed of hewn logs
and undoubtedly very substantial. It was surmounted by a
belfry containing a bell, and around was a palisade for defence
against the Indians.

MilUmy Huiowg. 21S

Here then our Military History commences, and the chort^
erected for the worship of Almighty God was in truth a fortress
of the Lord against tlie heatlicn enemies of the body, as well as
against the beguilers of tlie soul. Nor was the worthy pastor.
apparently less fitted to command in a temporal than to lead in
a spiritual capacity. Of its actuid use as a oefensiTe post we have
no lack of evidence. In June, 1639, according to the *^ Records
of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New Eng*
laud " (from which the authority for much here pven is derived),
^^ Hingham had liberty to use their meeting house for a watdi
house ; " and again, December 1640, ** Hinghfun Meeting house for
the present is allowed for their wateh house.** Already, in 1686,
the delegates in General Court had ordered ^ that the military
men in Hingham ||with other towns] be formed into a regiment
of which John Winthrop, Sen. Esq., be Colonel, and "niomas
Dudley, Lieut-ColoneL** This indicates the existence here at a
very early period of at least a part of a company, and our ances-
tors certainly had eminent commanders in two such remarkable
men as Governor Winthrop and Grovemor Dudley. Among llie
interesting orders from the central authority about this time was
one providing that captains be maintained from the treasury, and
not from their companies ; it was evidently passed for the purpose
of giving greater independence to the officers, and was manifestly
in the interest of the strict discipline towards which all legislation
constantly tended. It was also enacted that musket-balh of full
bore should pass current for a farthing apiece ; which, althousli
pertaining to the finances and currency rather than to the mui-
tary, is a fact of sufficient interest to justify its mention in this
connectioa In 1635 it was ordered that no dwelling-house be
built above half a mile from the meeting-house, and in this order
Hingham had the honor of being specially included by name ; in-
dicating perhaps that she had already shown a tendency to exceed
that limit and to stretch herself out along the main street, towards
the neighboring colony with which her people had later so much
in common. <

Acts passed in 1634, 1635, and 1636 required towns to provide
at their own charge a place in which to keep such powder and
ammunition as the military authorities should order utem to take
from Boston, and fixed a penalty for neglect ; commanded all
persons to go armed with muskets, powder, and ball, to all public
assemblies, and forbade any one going unarmed at any time above
a mile from his dwelling-house ; and specifically directed ** that
the military officers in every town shall provide that the watches
be duly kept in places most fit for common safety, and also a
ward on the Lord's day, the same to begin before the end of the
first month and to be continued until the end of September, and
that every person above the age of eighteen years (except magis-
trates and elders of the churches) shall be compellable to this

L^J.^^..^:.*.^!^. »^, .-^ ^^.^-i^^; . ■-..-

214 HistoTjf qf Singhavk

•

service either in person or by some substitute to be allowed bj
him that hath the charge of the watch or warde for that time, with
punishment for disobedience/' The settlement of 1638, then
called Bare Cove^ was in July, 1635, erected into a plantation,
which carried the right of sending deputies to the General Court;
and in September of the latter year the name was changed to
Hingham.

House lots M'ere granted to some fifty individuals 19 June and
September, and other lauds for the purposes of pasturage and
tillage. The former were situated mainly upon Town, now North
Street, but during the year the settlement was extended to Broad
Cove Lane, now Lincoln Street, and in 1636 tlie grants were upon
what is now South Street and uix>n Batchclor's Bow, now the
northerly part of Main street. And these early beginnings of our '
modern streets comprised the whole of the little town, with its two
hundred odd inhabitants, when in 1637 it first became a duty to
furnish a quota of her sous for the public defence.

It was the second year of the Pequod War, and Massachusetts —
which had already been acting with Connecticut — was to raise
an additional force of one hundred and twenty men, to be placed
under the command of Capt. Israel Stoughton ; this number was
subsequently increased to one hundred and seventy. Of these,
six were men from our town. We unfortunately know the names
of none of them, but we can follow in imagination the toilsome
march of the little army of which our forefathers formed a small
part, as it slowly and painfully made its wav through the virgin
thickets, almost impenetrable with the stiff, unbending, knarled
scrub oak, the matted masses of luxuriant-growing and lacerating
horse-brier, beautiful in its polished green, and the almost tropi-
cally developed poison-sumac, seductive in its graceful form and
rich coloring; through the great forests, dark with the uncut
forms of the towering pines ; and through the swamps of the coun-
try around Narragansett Bay, with the rich, black soil of the bot-
toms, and the majestic white cedars rising, like great sentries of
the red man, far into the air ; and thence up towards the Mystic,
spreading widely over the country between. We need not re-
hearse the details too minutely here ; we know the story, — the
Indians defeated, their tribe destroyed, and a day of thanksgiving
appointed ; this time October 12, when it was also ordered that
the various towns should " feast " their soldiers, — an injunction
doubtless faithfully obeyed, here at least.

From the time of the Pequod War, apprehensions of renewed,
trouble with the natives, and the necessary precautions against it,
continually grew throughout the colony. Among the enactments
was one passed March 13, 1638, directing ^^ that Hingham have a
barrel of powder, to be paid for by the town,'' and from 1640 to
1644 frequent orders regulated the time for training the train-
bands, and prescribed punishments for neglect. In the former of

Military Hiitarg. 215

these years, an interesting town record informs us tiiat the fblloir*
iug vote was passed, ^ That from the date hereof thenceforth there
shall be no tree or trees cut or felled upon the highway upon the
pain of twenty shillings to be levied for the use of the towH
because all good trees are to be preserved for the shading of
cattle in the summer time and for the exercising of the milituy.**
The desirability of preserving tiie trees ^ for the exercising of the
military '* arose from the benefit to be derived from training the
latter in the practical methods of Indian warfare, wherdn eveiy
savage placed the protecting trunk of a tree between himself and
the enemy; a situation giving him a distinct advantase over
troops in regular order, ft was ignorance or neglect of this fact
that led to the destruction of the brave Capt Pierce of Scituate
aud his company in 1676 and to the defedt of Braddock nearly
eighty years later. *' Garrison houses," so-called, which for the
most part were probably private dwellings of unosual sise and
adaptability for defence, were constructed, and stringent laws
passed for the enforcement of military discipline. The locatioQ
and appearance of such of the former as were then or after-
wards erected in Hingham, it is not possible to fully determine.
Among them, however, was what is now known as the Perei
Lincoln house standing on North, and a littie east from CSoU
tage Street. It was erected bv Joseph Andrews, probaUy in
1640. He was tlie first .Constable and first town clerk of Hinff-
ham. From him it passed for a nominal consideration, in 16669
to his son Capt. Thomas Andrews, and was then known jis the
Andrews house. It is the best authenticated ^ garrison house **
that we have. Doubtiess during many an alarm its massive tinn
bers and thick log walls gave a sense of security to the scMlere
who, with their wives and children, had gathered within. A pecu-
liarity of this building, now perhaps the oldest in town, is that,
excepting its first transfer, it has never been conveyed by deed«
but has continuously passed by will or simple inheritance for some
two hundred and twenty-five years from one owner to another.
Although now clapboarded and plastered, it is still one of the
most interesting of the old landmarks, and its sound old ribs
as seen within seem capable of defying the inroads of another
century. Another of these primitive defences stood near what is
now the easterly comer of Hcrsey and South streets, and on the
site of the Cazneau house, — formerly belonging to Matthew
Lincoln. Another was the house of Capt John Smith, on the
Lower Plain, about where the store of Mr. Fearing Burr now
is. John Tower^s house near Tower^s Bridge was also a garri-
son house ; and yet another, at South Hingham, was Capt. John
Jacobus house, situated in the pass between Massachusetts and
Plymouth. There were doubtless others, of which the record is
lost
In 1642 military officers were empowered to punish ne^ect

■ .^..■,^V.^,-.. ■!,■ ^..-^.^■^-. .^

216 History of HinghaM. - ^ .^

and insubordination by fine, imprisonment, corporal punishment,
the stocks, etc., and extry town was obliged to provide a place for
retreat for their wives and children, and in which to store ammu^
nition. The meeting-house answered for this double purpose in
Hingham, dthough the military stores were often distributed
among the commissioned officers of the townj thus securing greater
safety and availability in case of surprise. Every smith was
directed to lay aside all other work, and ^^ with all speed attend
the repairing of the ammunition of the several towns, fitting them
for any sudden occasion, and shall receive country pay for it'' In
every town there was a council of war, consisting doubtless of the
military officers, the selectmen, — generally including in their
number these same officers, — and perliaps other prominent citi-
zens. This council seems to have had certain advisory powers, '
and perhaps even of direction in emergencies, but in the event of
its failure to act, the commander of the company was specially
authorized to use his own discretion both for defence and offence.
The General Court directed, too, the manner in which alarms
might be given in case of danger. Any inhabitant was empowered
to distinctly discharge three muskets, to continually beat the
drum in the night, or to fire the beacon, or to discharge a piece
of ordnance, or to send messengers to adjoining towns ; and every
soldier was to respond at once, under a penalty of five pounds. The
captains of the three towns nearest that in which the enemy should
be discovered were to proceed thither with their companies. The
watches throughout the country were posted at sunset at the beat
of the drum, and discharged at sunrise drumbeat 'From this
arose the custom of payments which we find made to many indi-
viduals through a long series of years for ^^ maintaining the drum."
Thus among the ^' disbursements paid out of the To^Mie rate for
the Towne's use " in 1662, are the following : —

^' To Joshua Beals for maintenance of ye drum, £01 00 00.

" To Steven Lincoln for maintenance of ye drum, £00 10 00."

And again, — besides many other similar disbursements,—
'^ John Lincoln to be paid ten shillings a year for drumming, he to
buv his own drum ; " this in 1690.

increasing rumors of Indian conspiracies induced greater vigi-
lance and more careful preparation from year to year. In 1648
the military officers were placed in charge of the arms brought to
public meeting, and the care of ammunition in the farmhouses
was given to them ; and in 1644 all inhabitants were compelled to
keep arms ready for service in their houses. At a town meeting,
June 24, 1645, it was voted to erect a palisade around the
meeting-house ^^ to prevent any danger that may come into this
town by any assault of the Indians." Previous to 1645 Hingham
appears to have had no captain, and it is probable that for pur-
poses of military organization and discipline the soldiers of Hull
and Weymouth were joined with our own in forming a company^

■MMiMMMMMMi

MUiUxry Hktarg. 217

and that they were commanded by a wptain residing in the latter
place. Winthrop says that in 1645 ningham chose Lieatenant
liames, who had been the chief commander for the previous seren
or eight years, to be captain, and presented him to the cooncil for
confirmation. For some reason not now known, the town be*
came offended with Eames before his new commission conid be
issued, and a new election was held, or attempted to be held, at
tv'hich Bozoan Allen was chosen captain ; whom, however, the
council refused to confirm. A bitter controversy lasting several
years ensued. The town became divided into partisans of tlie
two officers, and the quarrel occomed mnch of the time of
the deputies and magistrates until 1648. In it the Bev. Peter
Hobart, together with many leading citizens, became deenly in*
volved, and the issues soon . came to relate to civil and reli*
gious, rather tiian to military interests. The details of tiue
most unfortunate affair, which cost the town many of ite
best families and much of its prosperity, would seem to be»
long more properly to the chapter on ecclesiastical history, and
there they may be found at length.

Lieut Anthony Eames, the first local commander of the town,
was one of the first settlers, coming here in 1686, in which year
a house lot was granted him on the lower plain. He seems to
have been an able officer and a leading and trusted citizen, being
a deputy in 1637, 1638, and 1643, and frequently holding positions
of responsibility and honor in the town. Together witn Allen,
Joshua Hobart, and others, he was chosen to represent the town's
interests in Nantaskct lands, and in 1643 he with Allen and
Samuel Ward had leave from the town to set up a com mill
near the cove. From Lieutenant Eames, through his three
daughters, — Miliccnt who married William Sprague, Elizabeth
who married Edward Wilder, and Marjory wno married Capt.
John Jacobs, — many of the people of Uingham are descended.
Pending the settlement of the trouble in the company, the
General Court ordered, August 12, 1645, that ^ lieutenant
Tory shall be chief military officer in Hingham, and act accord*
ing as other military officers till the court shall take furUier
orders." Lieutenant Tory was from Weymouth, and was an>
doubtedly appointed as a disinterested party to the controversy*
He was succeeded in the care of the company in May, 1646, by
Maj. Edward Gibbons. The same day that Lieutenant Tory was
assigned to the charge of tlie company an important order was
passed by the General Court to the effect that the commander of
every company should select thirty men out of every hundred in
their command who should be ready for service at half an hour*s
notice ; and further provided for the thorough arming and equip-
ping of every man, with penalties for neglect. Provision was also
made at the May session of the General Court for the training of
youth between the ages of ten and sixteen years of age, by experi>

ttHMiiiltafaMiHiirfMMHHiiMliilUMM^^

218 History of Ingham. -- -^

enced officers, in the use of arms ** as small guns, pikes, bows and
arrows " but excepting such as parents forbade. This order was
renewed in nearly the same form in 1647. Another order pro-
vided that any man not having arms might be excused from the
usual penalty by bringing to the company clerk corn to one-fifth
greater value than the cost of the articles in which he was defi-
cient. *^ But if any person shall not be able to provide himself
arms and ammunition through mere poverty, if he be single and
under thirty years of age, he shall be put to service by some ; if
he be married or above thirty the constable shall provide him
arms, and shall appoint him with whom to earn it out" How
indicative are all these orders, both of the constant dangers which
necessitated them, and of the efficient and untiring provisions
against surprise and ruin. The distaste for temporary officers *
from other towns, and the danger from farther delay apiiarently
led the people to. seek a settlement of the military trouble, and
we find in Uie State archives the following petition : —

The Humble Petition of the Soldiers of Hiugham to the HoDorable
Court now sitting in Boston^ Sheweth That we acknowledge ourselves
thankful to you for many favors ; especially considering how little we have
deserved them, either from the Lord or you his instruments. Yet your
bounty does encourage us and our own necessities forces us to crave help
from you that so we may be provided for the defense of ourselves, wives,
children, and liberties, against all oppressors. Tlicrefore we crave this
liberty, as the rest of our neighbors have which we take to be our due, to
choose our own officers, whicn if granted it will be a great refreshment.
But if we be not worthy of such a favor for present as your allowance
herein, then that you would be pleased to set us in a way that we may be
able to do you servis and provide for our own safety and not be in such
an uncomfortable and unsafe condition as we do. So praying for the
presence of our Lord with you, we are yours as he enables us and you
coonnand us.

In answer to this it was ordered that Bozoan Allen be lieutenant,
and Joshua Hobail, ensign. Three years later at the request of
the town both these officers were promoted, and Allen obtained at
last the rank for which he had vainly striven six years before.
He was a man of much force and considerable pugnacity. On at
least one, and probably two occasions he was compelled to humbly
beg pardon for disrespectful words spoken of Governor Dudley,
and in 1647 he was dismissed from the General Court for the
session. He held, however, many positions of honor in Hingham,
being repeatedly elected a deputy, serving often with his friend
Joshua Hobart He came to Hingham in 1638, and as already
mentioned was, with Lieutenant Eames, one of the owners of the
mill. He removed to Boston in 1652 and died the same year.
Joshua Hobart, a brother of the Rev. Peter Hobart, succeeded to
the command of the company in 1653. He was a man of great

Jriiiiifcin^- - '- I -111 -rtMinrtlrihfliMiiiiil

Military Hiiiarjf, 219

strength of character and one of the most distinguished citizens
the town has had. In 1641 he was a member of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery company, — then a military organization, —
was a deputy more than twenty^ve times, serving with Allen,
Lieutenant Houchin of Boston, — who, according to the custom of
the time, on several occasions served on behalf of Hingham, — and
with other prominent citizens. In 1670 he was on a committee
to revise the laws, and in 1678 was chosen to audit the accounts
of the treasurer of the colony. In 1672 Captain Hobart and Lieu-
tenant Fisher presented their report upon the boundary line
between the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth which
they had been appointed commissioners to determine. In 1674
he was speaker of the House of Deputies. He was frequently a
selectman and held other town offices. Besides holding the por-
tion of commander of the military of Hingham during many years
when unwearied vigilance, strict discipline, and constant prepara-
tion were of the first importance to the welfare and preservation
of the town, — for it must be remembered that suspicion, fear^
and at times open war succeeded the defeat of the Pequods, and
that at no time was the danger of destruction absent from the
minds of the colonists, — Captain Hobart is said to have com-
manded a company in active service in Philip's War. His house
lot was on Main Street and included the spot upon which stands the
Old Meeting-house, and here, in 1682, after having been Hingham's
chief officer for nearly thirty years, he died full of. honors, at the
age of sixty-seven years. Notwithstanding the uneasmess suc-
ceeding the Pcquod War, peace generally prevailed between the
colonists and the Indians for a quarter of a century thereafter ;
settlements multiplied and the older towns not only grew in num-
bers, but began to prosper with the development of agriculture,
the pursuits of the fisheries, the birth of manufactures, the trade
in lumber, and the commerce which w^as already springing up
with the West India islands. - In the general prosperity Hingham
shared, although her growth was not rapid, and, as has been said,
the military and ecclesiastical dissensions at one time led to a
serious loss in population, and consequent injury to the material
advance.

The soil was however fair and in many places rich, and its suc-
cessful cultivation led to the rapid increase in the number and
area of the " planting fields " which were granted from time to
time. Our almost circular harbor surrounded and protected on
all sides by hills clothed with a noble growth of oak, pine, and
cedar, and guarded at its entrance by the three beautiful islands
which like faithful sentinels stood as bulwarks against the storms
of the open ocean, early turned attention to Hingham as an
advantageous point for the construction of craft of various de-
scription and size, and the development of a prosperous foreign

220 History of JBingham. ^--^

Shipyards and wharves soon dotted the shore and multiplied
with astonishing rapidity ; and many a stately vessel received her
baptism and commenced her perilous life in the little bay which
washes our coast. The commerce which subsequently was one
of the chief sources of local wealth began, too, almost with the
birth of the town, and in 1679 we read of the loss at sea of a
vessel in which Joshua Hobart, one of Hingham's stalwart man-,
ners, was a part owner. Before this Winthrop mentions the over-
turning off Paddock's Island of a small shallop of ten tons, in
which was John Palmer, whose house lot was on Broad Cove, and
two others. This was in 1639, and the shallop was perhaps one
of the fishing smacks forming the advance guard of the fleet which
lined our wharves and enriched many of our citizens, and which
only finally disappeared within a very few years past. But while
this town and her sisters grew and prospered and pursued their
peaceful vocations, the shadow of a coming struggle lengthened,
and the inevitable contest between the white race and the red race
neared yearly and daily its culmination. In 1665 the town ^ Lyd
out for powder, bullets, and match, £11,*' — a very considerable
sum for the time, and indeed a very large projjortion of the total
expenditures for the year. The following quaint order passed July
20, 1668, is interesting because of the glimpse it affords of the
customs and vigilance of the period : —

•

It is ordered by the Selectmen of the town that all such pVs as are
app* & waraed to watch on the cou&tables watch shall ^from time to time
appear at the meeting house half an hour after sunset to receive their
charge ; and the constable is hereby ordered to meet them th«*re at the said
time or soon after to give them their charge according to law ; and we do
also order that after the new watch is come about as far as the meeting
house that then the 2 constables shall take their watches to give the wat(£
in charge, that is, one constable 1 watch db the other another ^ so by
turns tUl the time is expired which the law sets for the keeping up the sd
watch.

A generation had reached manhood since the extermination of
the Pequods ; the town and the colony alike had attained to strength
and confidence bom of prosperity, and a feeling of security re-
sulting from unceasing vigilance and preparation pervaded the
settlements. Nevertheless fear of the French, jealousy of the
Dutch, and suspicion of the Indian kept the weapons of prepa-
ration bright A rumor now and again of some forest outrage, an
actual barbarity, and possibly a self-consciousness of not being
without wrong on their own part, kept the colonists alert and
active. The military enactments of the General Court grew more
specific, more frequent, and more stern ; the co-operation of the
towns and their own watchfulness became more marked. A
successful expedition against the French on the Penobscot in
1658, and another to Niantick to suppress a Narragausett conspir-

MUitarg HUtarg. 221

acj in 1654, afforded valuable experience, although aooompanied
by little or uo bloodshed. Suddenly the long anticipated conflict
opened. An Indian was found drowned in Assawanset Pond near
Middleborough. He was a friend of the whites; three Warn-
panoags were arrested, tried, and executed for the murder. On
the 20th day of June, 1675, several houses were burned at
Swansea, and the greatest of New England's native warrion
opened the first of the two campaigns which only ended with the
death of Philip at Mt Hope August 12, 1676, sealing on that day
the fate of a mighty race, and after the most extreme suffering
and cruelty on both sides.

Thirteen towns had been wholly destroyed, and many more
sustained scvei-e loss, while six hundred of the colonists lav dead
upon the battle-field. On the other hand, the power of the red
man was at an end in New England. Their wigwams had been
burned, tlieir wives and children sold into slavery, their warriors
slain, and the tribes almost swept out of existence. The histoiy
is not a ])1easant nor a wholly creditable one ; its detailed rel^
tion fortunately belongs elsewhere. Into the struggle, however,
the men of Hingham entered bravely, and within her bordera at
least one incident in the great tragedy was enacted. Before tell*
ing the story of her contributions in men and money, the honoi^
able part she took, and tlie loss she sustained, let us make a
sketch of tlie old town as it appeared in the summer of 1675,
relocate and repeople at least some of the houses, remap the old
roads, glance at the occupations and characteristica and appear^
ance of the inhabitants, and catch as we may in the gloaming
some tracery of the homes and the lives of our forefathera.

Away back in 1645 a dam had narrowed the entrance to the
inner bay, then a beautiful sheet of water, undivided by the
street connecting Main Street and the harbor. Tide-gates had
finally closed the passage, and the friends Eames and Allen had
set in motion the busy wheels which now for two hundr^ and
fifty odd years, in the self-same spot, have sung their music in
the starry midnight and the merry sunlight alike, grinding tlie
corn and the grain of the settlers and their descendants for eight
generations. Here, then, in this opening year of King Philip's war
the little mill stood as now, not far from the public landing-place
at the Cove. Built of stout logs and hewn planks, wit£ jolly
John Langlcc, the miller, in the doorway, the rush of a foaming
stream beneath, a gleam of blue waters to the north, and in
front the dancing ripples of the glassy pond reflecting in the
morning light the giants of the forest which clothed the sur-
rounding hills and crept down to the very water's edge, it was
indeed a pleasant place ; and here the farmer with the heavy ox-
cart or pack-laden horse, the sailor back from some West Indian
port, the brightreyed school-boy, the idler from the town, the
squire, the captain, and now and again even Parson Hobart bun-

'--•"■^'•'-^^* -iifcr -f ihii-iWMa'iifii'ii-Y^-^

222 Histarif of

self, might bare been seen watcbing the hot meal as it poured
from the stones, while hearing and telling what each might of
news and rumor and gossip. Here the forebodings of the forest,
the startling stories of Indian devastation and cruelty, the tales
from over seas, the crop prospects, and the latest talk of the vil-
lage wbiled away many an idle hour, and doubtless, too, lost little
in their later relation by the home firesides. To the eastward
and westward of the mill stream, and sloping towards each other
until meeting beneath its bubbling waters, rose two noble hills,
their tops crowned with the oak and the pine, and their ocean-
ward sides scantily protected by wind-twisted and stunted cedars.
In Cobb's Bank, earlier known as Ward's Hill, we have, bare
and unsightly, the little that remains of the first of these, ,
which then, rounded and green, stretched away for several hun-
dred feet along the harbor, and gradually descending, finally dis-
appeared in Wnkeley's meadows. Through these last coursed a
tiny run, which emptied into the sea by the ^ landing-place " of a
subsequent period, — now a grass-covered wharf, long since disused
for commercial purposes. An easy ford at the town dock ena-
bled those having occasion, to reach the beaches along the base
of the eminence, and thence, after crossing the run, to ascend
the hill near the steamboat landing, and through the fields and
woods reach Neck Gate Hill, Martin's Lane, and the planting lots
beyond. The hill west of the stream also skirted the harbor for
some distance, and then, drifting inland, continued far towards
the western extremity of the town ; it remains^ materially unal-
tered to this day. Old Town Street, with its name changed to
North, follows now as in the early days its graceful, curving
course along the base of the hill at whose foot it lies. Here
and there its lines have been moved a trifle, this way or tliat,
but from the harbor to West Street it is the same old road, border-
ing the pond, the brook, and the swamp, as in tl>e days when the
Lincolns, the Andrews, and the Hobarts built their one-storied,
thatched huts along its grassy ruts.

From the Cove, where the mill, the town dock, and the ford
crowd in neighborly friendship together, to the further extremity
of the "Swamp," this, the first of Bingham's highways, has few
spots uncelebrated in her history. Yet almost the whole interest
is confined to the northern or upper side ; for not only was its
other boundary fixed so as to border upon tiie brook, but in fact
the land on that side of the travelled way was generally too
swampy to admit of its use for dwellings. Consequently we find— -
that scarcely a building stood upon the southerly side of the
street, and probably the only exception was the house of Samuel
Lincoln and his son, occupying a site nearly opposite the pres-
ent location of the New North Church. A very few years later,
however, in 1683 or thereabouts, another mill was built upon
the water side, and almost ezactiy where is now the little red

MUitary HUtwy. 228

blacksmitli-shop ; parts of the dam may atiU be seen prmecting
from either shore of the pond. Starting at the C!ove and going
westward, we should have seen at this early period the charred
remains of the houses of John Otis and Thomas Loring. But lit-^^
tie was left, however ; for the fire that destroyed them was an
old story many years back, and now had become little more than
a tradition. Nevertheless, from a spot nearly opposite the smithy,
their owners had looked out many a bright morning on the pretty
scene before them. A few stejis further, and near the corner of
Ship Street, — or Fish Street, as formerly known, and which per-
haf)S was a lane at even this early time, — was the home of Peter
Barnes, the ancestor of the present family of that name; and
close by, for a neighbor, lived John Langlee, the miller, who was
also a shipwright, and later an innkeeper on the same spoL
Now, however, he must go a-soldiering, and a-soldiermg he weut»
and not over willingly, mo may presume; for not only do we
know that he left a wife and one or two babies to fare as the
fates should will, but we learn that he was impressed into the
service. However, he shared with many a fellow-townsman in
the glory of the brave and unfortunate Captain Johnson and his
company, and was one of the two men from Hiugham who
were wounded in the great battle. He was the owner^ of the
island originally granted to Richard Ibrook, now known aa
Langley^s Island, and from him descended Madam Derby. The
house of Charles A. Lane stands on the spot where lived Joseph
Church, brother of the famous Capt. Benjamin Church, the final
conqueror of Philip ; and just beyond was the garrison house of
Capt. Thomas Andrews, now occupied by the Misses Lincoln.
With Captain Andrews lived his father, Joseph, the first town
clerk, at this time one of the old men of the settlement. A
hundred feet or so to the south, bubbling and rippling as it
danced along, flowed the cool waters of the town brook, crossed
a trifle higher up by a bridge, and broadened at that point into a
drinking-pond for cattle and horses. Lincoln Building covers
the spot from which the little pond long since disappeared.
Captain Andrews^ next neighbor to the westward was Capt. John
Thaxter, who had served with distinction against the Dutch, and
who was at this eventful period a selectman and one of the fore-
most citizens. His family was a large one, and a son — later
known as Capt. Thomas Thaxter — served at Martha's Vineyard
under Captain Church. Tlie old Thaxter house was known
twenty-five years since, and for many years before, as the Leavitt
house. The fine old mansion has given place to St. Paul's Ro- "
man Catholic Church. In the rear, " Ensiirn- Thaxter's Hill"
formed the northerly boundary of a wide training-field, which lay
between it and tlie houses on the street. Next beyond, and just
at the bend of the road, was the home of old Edmond Pitts, —
Goodman Pitts, as he was called, — a weaver, sexton of the

224 History qf Hingham. ^-^--

church, and a man of no little consequence. The house in its
modernized form still remains, and is the first one west ^f St.
Paul's Church. Directly in its front is Thaxter's Bridge, span*
ning the brook, and diagonally across the street, as already men-
tioned, was the abode of Samuel Lincoln, weaver and mariner,
and of his son Samuel, who served in the war as a cornet of
cavalry. Opposite the General Lincoln place. Broad Cove Lane,
now Lincobi Street, branched off, passed a low, marshy thicket,
which, cleared and filled, has become Fountain Square, climbed
the gentle slope beyond, and then descended again until it reached
the broad, and then deep arm of the sea from which the lane
was named. Beyond this point it continued for perhaps half a
mile, and terminated in pastures and planting fields beyond. ^
From it another lane running nearly at right angles led, as '
does the wide avenue which has succeeded, to the deep water
at Crow Poinl and to Weary-all-Hill, since called Otis Hill, >/
where, through other lanes and by deep ruts and numerous bars
the rich lands granted as planting lots were reached. Upon Lin-
coln Street were located the homes of the Chubbucks, of John
Tucker, and perhaps a few others ; and on the comer, and front-
ing on Town Street, we should have found Benjamin Lincoln^
great-grandfather of General Lincoln. He was a farmer, with a
young family, and on his lot stood the malt-house given him by
his father, Thomas Lincoln, the cooper ; here was carried on one
of the primitive breweries of our ancestors, and here doubtless
was enjoyed many a glass of flip. Mr. Lincoln^ next neighbors
to the westward were his brothers-in-law John and Israel Fearing,
who occupied the family homestead nearly opposite to the site of
the Universalist Church ; while just be\*ona, and extending for
a long distance up towards the West End, were the domains of
the Hobarts, a very prominent family at the time. Here was
Edmund the younger, but now a venerable man of seventy-two
years, a weaver by trade, prominent in town affairs, and a twin
brother of the minister. His house was near Hobart's- Bridge,
where with him lived his son Daniel, who followed his father's
occupation and succeeded to his influence. John and Samuel,
elder sons, and both just married, had their homes with or near
their father, while just beyond, and opposite Goold's Bridge,
the Rev. Peter Hobart occupied the parsonage, which for forty
years had been the centre of social and intellectual life in the
town. It may be well to mention here that the brook, which in
general occupies nearly its original bed for the greater part of its-..
length, has had its course materially altered in recent years
between the site of John and Israel Fearing's house and Hobart*s
Bridge. It formerly flowed quite up to, and in places even into
the present location of North Street between these points ; and
the line of the sweep of the marsh and old Town Street is clearly
indicated by the segment of a circle upon which the houses from

MUUary BUiarg. 225

Mr. David Cushing's to the Andrews* are now built Bev. Peter
Hobart's neighbors to the westward were Thomas Gill and his
sons, Lieut. Thomas, and Samuel, and his son-in-law, Josiah
Lane ; and beyond them were Thomas and Ephraim Majrsh, one
or both of whom lived in the paternal homestead which came
from George Marsh, their grandfather, and which bounded west-
erly on Burton's Lane. On the further side of tliis passage-way
the brothers Ephraiin Lane, who served in Captain Johnson's
company, and John Lane, the carpenter, occupied their father^s

SJace, while near them was George Lane, an uncle. On Mars
lill, Thomas Lincoln, the cooper, one of the old men of the vil-
lage, and ancestor of the Benjamin Lincoln family, occupied the
spot which has been the home of liis descendants to the present
time. Jacob Beale lived near by, but the exact spot is not easily
located. Apparently Thomas Hobart was the sole inhabitant of
West Street at this period, although Caleb Lincoln^s house was on
the corner, but probably facing Fort Hill Street. The latter's twin
brother Joshua, and their father, Thomas Lincoln, tlie hnsband-
man, were close by, as were Sergeant Daniel Lincoln and his son
Daniel, Thomas and Ephraim Nicolls, Moses Collier, and Thomas
Lincoln, the carpenter, Henry Ward, Robert Waterman, Samuel
Stowcll and his sons John and David, Joshua Beale, who main-
tained the drum, and his brother Caleb, at this time a con-
stable; all were locate on Fort Hill Street Here also, and
])robably on the crown of the hill, and within a very few feet of
the street to which it gave its name, was erected at this time one
of the three forts which formed a part of the defences against
the Indians. The location was admirable, the eminence over-
looking and commanding the fertile fields on its several sides, as
well as the village clustered around its base, while the road to
Weymouth, much of the water supply, and a wide range of
country were within the protecting fire of its guns ; while signals
by day or a beacon light at night would carry an alarm to distant
points. Leaving this locality and proceeding along what is now
South Street, we should have found on the Gay estate of a later
day William Hersey, and near him John and James and William
Hersey the younger, and Widow Hewitt and her brother-in4aw,
Timothy Hewitt. On the westerly corner of Austin's Lane, now
Hersey Street, were John Beale, and John his son, while on the
easterly corner another garrison house formed the connecting
defence between the fort at West Hingham and Captain An-
drews' garrison house at Broad Bridge. The house belonged to
Steven Lincoln, and the Cazneau cottage stands nearly upon its
site. In the immediate vicinity were Simon Gross, Joshua Lin-
coln, Richai^ Wood, and Samuel Bate, who had a daughter
born April 12, 1G76, "in the garrison," — not improbably tixe
garrison house of Steven Lincoln, which was undoubtedly already
occupied as a place of refuge in consequence of the alarm pre-

TOL. I. — 15

226 History of Hinghaau ^- . ,_

ceding the attack of a few daj8 after in the south part of the
town. Other neighbors were Dr. Cutler, known as ^ the Dutch-
man," and Arthur Caiue; while Joseph Bate's house stood
where Mr. William O. Lincoln, who is of the eighth generation
occupying the same spot, now resides, — Clement Bate, the
father of Joseph, being the first. Next east lived Nathaniel
Beal, Senior, cordwaiuer and constable, and who had formerly
been chosen by the selectmen to keep an ordinary to sell sack and
strong waters, and who may still have been engaged in the same
pursuits. His ordinary and home was about opposite Thaxter's
bridge. Across the travelled way, and on the lot occupied by
the building in which the District Court holds its sessions, were
the stocks, — conveniently near the place where the strong
waters, Avhich perhaps frequently led to their occupancy, wete
dispensed. The street now so beautiful in all its long course
from Broad Bridge to Queen Anne's Corner, is the street of the
old days which we are picturing, and has undergone little change
of location. Its northerly part was known however at that time
as Bachelor's Row. We must recollect, however, that the hill
upon which Derby Academy stands tlicn extended over the pres-
ent Main Street, sloping down nearly to the houses on the west,
and that going south it fell away to about the present level of
the street in front of Loring Hall, when the ascent again com-
menced, terminating in quite a little eminence opposite the Bas-
sett house, but which has largely disappeared tlirough the cutting
off of the crown and the filling of the swampy tract beyond, — a ^
process which, repeated a short distance south, in the vicinity of
Water Street, has also modified the appearance of Main Street
quite materially at that point The old road was in fact a suc-
cession of ascents and descents almost continuously, until after
reaching the level above Pear-tree HilL The first meeting-house
stood upon the part of the bill near Broad Bridge, which has
been removed, and probably not far from, and a few rods in front
of, the site of Derby Academy. It has already been described.
Over the hill, and probably to the eastward of the Meeting-house
ran a road, and around the base was another, doubtless more easy
to travel. These two commencing at the same point near the
bridge, soon united into one again at or near where Loring Hall
stands. On the slopes of the hill and around the meeting-house
our fathers were buried, and there they doubtless thought to
sleep undisturbed forever. Their remains now rest in the old
fort in the cemetery, of which in life they were the garrison, — a
most fitting sepulchre for the sturdy old soldiers. This fort, still
in an admirable state of preservation, was probably erected in
1675 or early in 1676, and was the main defence of the inhabi-
tants. It overlooked and commanded most of the village and
the main approaches thereto, and in connection with the palisaded
Meeting-house and the garrison house across the brook, provided

MilUary HUiarjf. 227

ample protection to the setUement. The two latter completdj
covered the stream for a long distance, making it impossible for
the Indians to deprive the townspeople of its sweet waten.
Nearly every bouse on the lower part of Main Street was within
range, and under the protection of the guns of the fort, which
also commanded an unobstructed view of the whole territorjr
between Captain Andrews' and the harbor, whose blue watem,
framed in their bright setting of green, then as now made a
beautiful and peaceful picture, as seen from its ramparts. The
present appearance of the fort is outwardly that of a circular,
sodded embankment, two or three feet in height, upon which are
planted several of the oldest of the gravestones; but from
within, the earth walls appear to be considerably higher, and the
excavation is rectangular, with sides about forty feet in length.
In the centre, from the summit of a mound, there rises a plain
granite shaft, inscribed upon the southwesterly and northeasterly
sides respectively as follows: —

To The

Erected

First Settlers

BY THE

Town,

HUCGHAM,

1889.

The late Hon. Solomon Lincoln, in his ^ History of Hingham/*
mentions in a foot-note a tradition related to him as coming from
Dr. Gay, to the effect that ^^ this fort was built from the fear of
invasion by the sea, by the Dutch, etc." There can be no doubt
that the tradition referred to another fortification, also in the
cemetery, probably built for defence against the Dutch or the
Spanish, the remains of which were discovered a few years since
while constructing a road in that part of the burying-ground
towards Water Street, by Mr. Todd, the superintendent. The
location, as described by him, was on the northerly side of the
hill formerly owned by Isaac Hinckley, whose family lot is upon
its crown, the situation entirely commanding the harbor and its
approaches, and affording a magnificent view, and a valuable out-
look for military purposes. The defence was probably m the
nature of a stone battery, upon which it was intended to mount
a gun or guns, and the remains consisted of several tiers of large
stones, placed regularly together and backed by earth. Unfortu*
natcly they have been removed.

On Bachelor's Row, and near where Elm Street now intersects the
main highway, Daniel and Samuel Stoddcr, brothers, and each with
a numerous family, occupied neighboring houses. Daniel attained
a greater a^e than has any other person in Hingham, finally dying
at one hundred and four years. A few rods south, Ensign Joseph
Joy, by occupation a carpenter, bore them company ; and on the
opposite side of the street, and not far from where the Old Meet-
ing-house now is, was the home of blacksmith and lieutenant
Jeremiah Beale, with his family of seven children. Close by, for

imiitBJnMiOj::x^i£i-i:kfrihiai<^ ■^*-" •

?28 Hisiarjf of Hingham. ^ ._

a neighbor, was the famous Captain of the Trainband, Joshua
Hobart, the most prominent of the townspeople, excepting his
brother, the minister. As already said, his lot included the land
upon which the meeting-house of 1681 stands.

Here too, then, or a little later, we should have found probably
the only gathering-place outside tlie Meeting-house, for the ma-
trons of these early times in our history ; for here Dame Ellen, the
worthy wife of the Captain, kept a little shop, in which were sold
the gloves and ribbons, the laces and pins and needles and thread,
and possibly even, now and then a piece of dress goods of foreign
make, and all the little knick-knacks as dear and as necessary to
our grcat-great-grandmothers as to the wives and sisters of the
present day. Upon the homestead of his father on the easterly
side of the street, lived Samuel Thaxter, a cordwainer, atd
ancestor of Joseph B. Thaxter, who occupies the same spot;
while a little south, and about opposite tiie head of Water Street,
Andrew Lane, a wheelwright, settled upon a lot of some four
acres, with John Mayo near by. A little beyond, and very near
to where Winter Street intersects Main, John Prince, a soldier of
the war, made his home. At this point also we should have seen
the tannery of the Cushings, stretching for a considerable distance
along the street, as tanneries almost always do, with the sides of
leather drying in the sun, the bits scattered here and there, the
piles of red bark, and the inevitable tan entrance and driveway ; all
making the air redolent with an odor by no means disagreeable.

Upon the lot now occupied by Dr. Robbins at^he foot of Pear-tree
Hill, a few rods north of his residence, Matthew Cushing, who died
in 1660 at seventy-one years of age, the progenitor, probably, of
all the families of that name in the United States, had established
the home which remained uninterruptedly in the family until 1887 ;
and here still lived his wife, who died subsequently to the war, aged
ninety-six, his son Daniel, then and until his death town clerk, and
one of the wealthy men of the period, and Matthew a grandson,
afterwards lieutenant and captain. Not far away Matthew Cushing
senior's daughter Dcborali lived with her husband, Matthias Briggs,
while on the opposite side of the street, at what is now the Keeshan
place, Daniel the younger, a weaver by trade, established a home
and reared a numerous family. The Cushings were shopkeepers
in addition to their other occupations, and probably the little end
shop built onto the dwelling on either side of the street contained
articles of sale and barter, — produce and pelts and West India
goods and ammunition. We may suppose that these small centres
of trade, together with the tannery in the immediate vicinity, gave
quite a little air of business to the neighborhood, — forming
indeed the primitive exchange of the period.

Not far from where Mr. Fearing Burr s store now is, Lieut John
Smith, Captain Hobart's able second in rank, had a home and a
foil combined, being one of the *^ garrison houses^ whose wise

■*- ""— ^ - -^ - ^ -- • - M ■r" I r I i Minirr ^^"^tt"^^ — VmiMfciafiJiiirfiiiiiiriatri

MUitarji SUtarjf. 229

location probably sarcd the town from a general attack. Lien- .
tenant Smith is stated to have been in active service during the
war, and to have commanded a fort He was a man of marked
ability, holding many positions of public trust, representing tlie
town in the General Court and succeeding to the command of the
foot company in 1G83, after the death of Captain Hobart He was
also one of the wealtliiest of Hinghain's inhabitants, leaving prop-
erty valued at upwards of £1100, a considerable sum for the
time. Commencing at liis house and thence extending south to
the present location of Pleasant Street and east to that of Spring
Street and bounded north by Leavitt, and west by Main Street^
was a large common or training-field in which, probably not far
from where is now the Public Library, was Hingnam's third fort,
doubtless under the immediate charge of Lieutenant Smith ; and
which in connection with his garrison house, provided a fur
means of defence to most of the houses on the plain. Around
this field were the lots of many of the first settlers, and the homes
of their descendants formed at this time quite a village. Among
them on Main Street was that of Matthew Hawke, afterwards
the third town clerk. From Iiira is descended Col. Hawkes Fear-
ing, wliose house is upon the same spot. Matthew, one of the first
settlers, was by occupation a schoolmaster. His granddaughter
married John Fearing,. Colonel Feariug^s paternal ancestor.
James Hawke, son of Matthew, also resided at Hingham centre
and probably with his father, — he too becoming town clerk in
1700, succeeding Daniel Cushing ; and was liimself succeeded in
the same office by his son James, also a resident of tliis part of
the town, and with whom the name ceased. He left two daughters,
one becoming the mother of John Hancock. Next them was Fran-
cis James, and but a short distance further south, about where Mr.
David Herscy's house now is, was the homestead of the Ripleye,
and on or near it were located John Ripley and John junior and
his brother Joshua. Their nearest neighbor, John Bull, *^ Goodman
Bull," was the progenitor of many of the present inhabitants of the
town. Buirs Pond, a small bit of water opposite Grand Army
Hall, takes its name from the old settler, and marks the location of
his property. On Leavitt Street Deacon John Leavitt, tailor, and
the father of thirteen children, had the grant of a house loc He
appears, however, to have made his home as far from the centre as
he well could, as his residence was in that part of the town known
as *' over the Delaware." He was not only one of the deacons of
the church, but a trusted and leading citizen and officer, represent-
ing the town for many years in the General Court. His two sons,
Josiah the cooper and farmer, and Israel the husbandman, lived
on the same street. Nathaniel Baker, a farmer, large landowner^
and a selectman in 1G76, and a soldier in the war, was conven-
iently located at the junction of Leavitt and East streets. Never-
theless we find under date of Dec. 18, 1676 the following : —

[iliiliii.iliriiiiHiMliiMM«htfJMtS^^

280 Hisiary of Hingham. --^ ^

To the Constable of Hingham. You are hereby required in his ina>
jestys name forthwith at the sight hereof to destraine upon the goods or
chattels of Nathaniel 1 Baker of this Town to the value of twenty shillings
for his entertaining a Indian or Indians contrary to a Town oi^er whidi
fine is to be delivered to the selectmen for the use of the Town* Hereof
you are not to faiL Benjamin Bate in the name of d; by the order of
the rest of the Selectmen of Ilingham.

This is a true copy of the warrant as attest Moses Collier Constable of
Hingham.

The fiue imposed upon Mr. Baker was in consequence of his
disobedience of au oi*der passed by the town forbidding the em-
ployment or entertainment of an Indian by any person. It was
almost immediately followed by petitions from Baker, John Jacobs,
and others to the General Coui-t asking that tliey be permitted 'to
retain their Indian servants, and it appears from the State Ar-
chives that the following similar request had already been granted.
It is of added interest for its illustration of the conduct of the
war and the standard of the times.

'John Thaxter petitions the Hon. Gov. and Council now sitting in
Boston &c, that his son Thomas Thaxter was in service under the com-
mand of Capt Benj" Church at Martha's Vineyard and Islands adjoiniuf
where they made many captives and brought them to Plymouth; ana
Captain Church gave ye petitioner*s son an Indian boy of abt nine years
old and the selectmen having made an order that no Inhabitant shaU keep
any Indians in his family, ^bc. — hence the petition — Granted Jan. 11,
1676.

From the residence of Nathaniel Baker, going east, there were
few, if any, houses until reaching the vicinity of Weir river on
East Street, then a little travelled lane. Here, however, we should
have come upon the farm of John Farrow with whom lived his
sous John and Nathan, while beyond and near if not upon the
very spot where the Misses Beale now live, was the last residence
of Sergeant Jeremiah Beale ; and near him his friend and neigh-
bor Purthee McFarlin, the Scotchman, found himself blessed with
nine bonny lassies and tliree sturdy laddies. Beyond, in what is
now Cohasset, then known as the Second Precinct, there were a
few settlements whose story seems properly to belong to that of
our sister town. On the farther side of the common before referred
to, Simon Burr the farmer, and his son Simon, a cooper, located on
a lane which has since become School Street; and not far off,
Cornelius Cantlcberry, John Mansfield, and his son John, and
perhaps a few others made homes for themselves. On the corner
of Union Street Captain Eamcs had lived, and it was in that part
of the town known then as now as " over the river,** and where
Israel Whitcomb grows his beautiful asters in such profusion, that
Millicent Fames, daughter of Capt. Anthony, went to live with her
husband William Sprague, the nrst of a long line of descendants

MUitarf HUtorf. 281

many of whom have become celebrated ; and here in tfaia exciting
period was a little settlement almost bj itself, of which Antonj
and William Sprague, the younger, Robert Jones, then quite an
old man, his son Joseph with his family, and the Laxells, John
and his sons Joshua and Stephen, formed the greater part From
the Lazells the street bearing their name was called, and probablj
their homes were upon it Leaving the common with its fort in
easy reach of all the surrounding houses, and following the general
direction of Main street as it now lies, we should have come at
Cold Corner to the lot allotted John Tower. Upon it he built his
house, which was admirably located for defence from Indian
attack, and commanded not only a considerable portion of the
highway, but also a long line of the river and no inconsiderable
part of tlie country in its vicinity. Tower was a resolute man,
who determined to take advantage of his position and defend hit
home untrammelled by the behests of the town authoritiea. To
this end he petitioned as follows : —

To the Honored (jov. & Coondl convened in Boston, March 10^ lOT^
John Tower Senior of Hingham ii bold to inform yoor Honors thai he
hath at his own pro{)er charge fortified his house & to begg yoor fhvor
that his four souns & one or two persons more that he may hire at his
own cost may be allowed to him for garrisoning his house; and may not
l)e called off by the Comittee of the Town for to come into any other
garrison, my sonns having deserted their own dwellings and broaght Ihdr
goods into my fortification. I shall thankfully acknowledae yoor Honors
ffavor herein & be thereby further obliged to pray for a messing on yoor
Counsels. Tour humble Servant

J. TOWKR, SlHIOB.

Ibrook Tower, one of his sons, probably lived near his father,
aud together with John Jr., Jeremiah, and Benjamin, constituted
the ^^four sonns" of which his garrison was to mainly consist
John Tower was not only a brave man, but a diplomatic one also,
and is said to have possessed no little influence with the red men.
There is a tradition that even during the war, and while lurking
in the vicinity, the Indians permitted him to get water from the
river without molestation.

Edward Wilder, Jr., ancestor of all the Hingham Wilders and
husband of Elizabeth Eames, owned at one time all the land
between Tower's and Wildcr's bridges and resided between High
and Friend streets, on Main. lie was a soldier in the war against
Philip. With him lived his son Jabez and in the immediate
vicinity several more of his children, including Ephraim and John.
The region about the mccting-house at South Hingham was occu-
pied largely at this time bv the Jacobs, a wealthy and influential
lamily. Foremost among them was Capt. John Jacob, a member
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, probably one
of its officers and perhaps at one time its commander, and an able

282 History of Hingkam. - ~^

and trusted officer in the war against Philip. Captain Jacob
succeeded to the command of Captain Johnson^s company after
that officer's death, and directed the defences at Medfield when
that town was attacked and partially destroyed Feb. 21, 1676.
On this occasion there were with him Lieutenant Cakes and twenty
troopers, besides his own foot company of about eighty men. The
only ningham name upon the roll at this time of which there is
reasonable certainty, besides his own, is that of Nathaniel Ted.
With Captain Wadsworth, Captain Jacob was engaged during the
winter in guarding the frontiers from Milton to the Plymouth
colony bounds, — Weymouth, Hingham, and Hull, being specially
assigned to the latter. The service was an important and arduous
one, and these towns were fortunate in having so able an officer
assigned to their protection ; it may well be that to this is to' be
ascribed the small loss sustained from attack by any of them
during the two eventful years. He was among the moneyed men
of the town, his estate being appraised at £1298. He owned a saw-
mill and a fulling mill, besides much land and considerable per-
sonal property. He too was a son-in-law of Captain Eames, havine
married his daughter Marjory. Their son John, a young man (3
twenty-two years and who had served in the war, was perhaps the
only inhabitant of Hingham ever killed in the course of military
hostilities upon her own soil. Preceding the descent upon the
soutliem part of the town, to be liereafter spoken of, he was slain
near his father's house April 19, 1676. Joseph, a brother of
Captain Jacob, was also a resident of this "part of the town, and
Samuel Bacon, who married Mary Jacob, and Peter Bacon were
near neighbors. At Liberty Plain, Humphrey Johnson, who had
been turned out of Scituate, set up the house which he removed
from that town, but only on condition that he should remove it
out of Hingham on short warning, as he was a troublesome man.
Later he was admonislied to accept a fence line quietly. He,
however, in part atoned for his short-comings by serving his
country in the conflict then going on. His son Benjamin, a black-
smith and afterwards proprietor of Pine Tree Tavern, doubtless
resided with his father at this time. Other residents of Liberty
Plain were James Whiton, whose house was burned by the Indians,
and his son James who lived near by, and William Hiliard. On
Scotland Street a Scotchman, Kobert Dunbar by name, made his
home, and from him have descended the Dunbars of the present
time. Nathaniel Chubbuck, also one of those whose houses
were destroyed on the 20th of April, lived not far away, and
probably near or upon Accord Pond.

On the 25th of February, 1675, it was ordered, on request of
Capt John Jacob, " that his house standing in the pass between
this colony and Plymouth be forthwith garrisoned, and such as
are his nearest neighbors are to joyne therein." This was the
last of the defences of the town of which we have any knowledge,

JUaUarf Htatary. 28&

although it is more than probable that there were other garriaoni
houses in the small hamlets, like that ^ over the river ^ or the
ouc in the vicinitj of Weir River. The ^* pass ** where Captain
Jacob's garrison house was situated is somewhat uncertain. It
may have meant simplj the street leading toward Plymouth
Colony, or possibly the Indian trail near Accord Pond was so
denominated.

This, then, was the Hingham of 1675, and these, with perhaps a
few more whose names tlie kindly and gentle hand of time lias
shadowed into the great oblivion, were the heads of families in thia
olden time, — a little town consiJBting of perhaps one hundred and .
twenty homes, divided among several small villages and a few nearly
isolated settlements ; a half-dozen or.so streets, of which Town, or
North, Fort Hill Street, South, 6achelor*s Row, a twrt of Leavitt^
what is now School, and the part of Main from Bachelor's Bow
proper to the extreme southern boundary, were the principaL
These streets, however, were mere grassy lanes, almost unimproved^
whose deep-cut ruts were strangers to any other vehicles than the
heavy, lumbering teams which served as farm wagons two centoriea
ago. Here and there it is probable that necessity or the publio
spirit of an individual, or perhaps the combination of several, had
resulted in trifling attempts at road making, and in some of the
swampy sections bits ol corduroy were constructed. One such, at
least, was upon the low approaches to the brook at Broad Bridge,
and some of its remains were found several years since, and even
yet lie in the bottom of its bed. Road surveyors and superintend*
ents and working out of taxes, and even taxes themselves, were for
the most part blessings of a later period. Thei*e were no sidewalks
either, and along the little side paths leading from house to house
and farm to farm, the blue violet blossomed in the early days of
May as now, and the white violet scented the air with its delicate
fragrance, while the wild rose and the golden rod in their season
made the ways bright with their beauty. The chipmunk, his
cheeks filled with the yellow Indian maize stolen from the adjoin-
ing field, sat saucily upon the fresh-cut stump and chipped at the
passer, while the golden-winged woodpecker tapped for insects in
the tree overhead, the kingfisher flashed his steel-blue breast across
the waters of the bay and uttered his shrill cry, and the robin
and the cat-bird danced along with their familiar friendliness be-
fore the settlers^ feet. On either hand, and nestling near together
for mutual protection, were the low log or hewn-board thatch-
roofed homes of the people, in most of which glazed windows
were unknown, the light enterinp^ through oiled-paper panes and
the opened door. Heavy board shutters added something to the
warmth and much to the safety of the interior after dark. The
rooms were few in number, unplastered and not always sheathed
inside, while a single chimney, with a great open fireplace and a
crane, served as oven and furnace alike. Here and there, how-

f i

B,atfialMiMia«iMMiaai^ii^Biiitoa*iMaii^i^^ i f linaiiTi stim Wt

284 Hiaiory of Hingham. --

ever, more pretentious, and in one or two cases perhaps, even
stately edifices had been erected. Some of these had a second
story, overhanging slightly the first, and this added greatly to the
power of resisting an attack. A few had glass windows, and here
and there a little shop protruded from one end. Besides these
tlie three forts, the garrison houses, and the meeting-house gave
a certain diversity and rough picturesqueness to the landscape.
Fine tracts of wood covered a large part of the territory, but no-
merous planting fields had been granted from time to time, and
the axe of the settler during forty years had made no inconsider-
able mark, and the clearings had been industriously cultivated
from Otis, or Weary-all-Hill, to World's End. The soil was new
and fairly good, and prosperity had lightened the lot of not a few,
so that while certainly far from rich as wealth is measured in
these days, 'the appraisal of some estates indicates the accumula-
tion of the means of considerable comfort and influence. The
people were for the most part sturdy, industrious, English farmers
with a' fair proportion of carpenters, blacksmiths, and coopers,
more, probably, than the necessary number of inn-keepers with
their free sale of strong-water and malt, a few mariners, several
mill owners and millers, two or three brewers, not a larger number
of shop-keepers, a tailor, a tanner perhaps, one or two ^ gentle*
men," a schoolmaster, and last, and on many accounts most im-
portant of all, the parson. As already said, the inhabitants were
for the most part English, but a large proportion of the younger
generation was native born, and there was also a small sprinkling^
of Scotch. In addition there remained a few Indians, whose wig-
wams were pitched outside the settlement, besides a small number
employed as servants in the houses of several of the whites ; and
in the same capacity a negro might here and there have, been
found. From a people mainly composed at first of the British
middle-class, impelled to emigrate and settle rather from an am-
bition to improve their worldly lot than from any deepnseated dis-
satisfaction, either with the government or institutions of home,
or even from especially intense religious aspirations, there had
developed a sober, industrious, earnest, self-sustaining community,
whose energy was already laying the foundations for the com-
merce with the West Indies which afterwards became extensive,
and for the varied manufactures whicli for so many years gave
employment to our people. A few small shallops too were
owned here, and some of the inhabitants had an interest in one or
two vessels of larger size; but fishing, which subsequently became -
a great industry, had scarcely begun at this period. The real
business of tlie settlement as yet was farming. The families of
the day were not small, and year by year added to their propor-
tions; Rev. Peter Hobart himself was father to no less than
eighteen children while others were hardly less numerous. Men
and women alike were commonly dressed in homespun, and un-

i^mtt

HKlitarf Hutoqf.

doubtedly the style of their garments was that so often seen in the
pictures of the period. Can we not, for the moment, people our
streets with them once more ? — the men in their tall-crowned^
broad-brimmed hats, the short coat close-belted, with broad buckle
in front, the knee breeches, long stockings and buckled shoes
varied by the better protection of long boots worn by othens,
especially in winter, and in this latter season the long cape
hanging gracefully from the shoulders; the women in their be-
coming hoods, faced it may be with fur, the straight, rather short
skirts, and the long enveloping cloaks, with gloves or mittens in
cold weather.

The costumes were picturesque if the materials were not of
the finest, but we have no reason to suppose an utter absence of
more elegant fabrics when occasion demanded, and not a few are
the traditions of silks which would stand alone, carefully treaa>
urcd as their chief pride by our great-great-grandmothers, while
doubtless velvet coats and knee-breeches, with famous paste or
silver buckles, and perhaps even a bit of gold lace, about this
time forbidden by the General Court to all but certain excepted
classes, found proud and dignified wearers on days of importance
among the town fathers and military commanders. We read^
too, of the bequest of swords in some of the wills of the period,
and it is not unlikely .that they were at least occasionally worn
by the grandees of the town, as well as by the trdnband of&eeie,
on ceremonious occasions. Nor must it be forgotten that from
necessity, as well as by mandate of law, the musket had become
80 constant a companion that, though strictly not an article of
dress, it may at least be considered as a part of the costume of the
men ; it was upon their shoulders in the street, it rested against
the nearest tree when the farmer toiled, it went with him to
meeting on the Sabbath, and leaned, ready loaded, in the comer
at the house when he was at home.

The heavy cloud which had so long threatened Plymouth, and
wliich finally burst upon Swansea in June, was extending over
Massachusetts also. The border towns were immediately upon
the defensive. Hingham, with her boundarv upon that of the
Plymouth Colony, and peculiarly bound to it by neighborhood,
by frequent marriages between her families and those of the
Pilgrim settlements, and by the removal of some of their people
to live among hers, may well have benefited by the kindly influ-
ences of the sister colony, and imbibed a liberalism and imagi-
nation not common among the Puritans. At all events, no
persecution for conscience' sake mars the records of the old town,
which a little later loyally followed for more than half a century
tjic teachings of Dr. Gay, with his broad and embracing Chris-
tianity. Now, with sympathy for her friends and apprdiension
for herself, the town quietly, soberly, grimly prepared for the
contest, and awaited the call for duty.

>MiL>^a,i3^J^>.^.>i,=i.fl*^^^L.r^ >..,,,.^,,A^>....>^.,.JiA,^.>.,..^^^ ^^.<.^,.. :.. ..

236 HUiory of Hingham.

Under Captain Hobarfs direction the three forts were erected,
the garrison houses provisioned, and the careful watch and strict
discipline maintained. The summer slipped away, the people
pursuing their usual vocations. The drum-beat at sunrise
relieved the weary sentinel, called to life the sleeping town, and
put in motion the industries of the field, the shop, and the home.
And while the men labored at their various vocations, the women
were equally industrious ; for not only wore the children and the
homes and the dairies to be cared for, but the very clothes must
be woven and made in the kitchen of every house. Probably the
mill, the inns, and the malt-houses were favorite places of
gathering for the men during their leisure moments, while Mrs.
Hobart's shop formed the ladies* exchange of the period, and
many a confidence and bit of gossip were here whispered, only ^
to reach the goodman's ears a few hours later.

On the Sabbath-day all attended meeting, and after the ser-
vices — probably several hours long — lingered around the porch
to exchange greetings and make inquiries about friends and
relations too scattered to visit during the week.

An occasional sail whitened the placid bosom of the little cir*
cular harbor, whose outlet was nearly hidden by the three islands
with their dark cedar foliage. Grand old trees here mirrored
themselves, and again in the waters of the inner bay and the
beautiful pond« which belonged to Plymouth and Massachusetts
alike, while fields of maize ripened and yellowed on the hillsides.

The sharp stroke of the axe, the occasional report of a musket,
the voice oi the plowman talking to his cattle, the grinding of
the mill wheels, the music of the anvil, the merry splash of the
bounding stream, the whir of the pai-tridge, the not distant howl
of the wolf, the stamp of the startled deer, the crackling of dry -
boughs beneath the foot of an Indian, whose swarthy form flitted
silently and ominously along the trail to the sister colony, —
tliese were the every-day sights and sounds of the summer
of 1676.

The weeks following the attack on Swansea had seen the up-
rising of tribe after tribe, allies of Philip, the destruction of town
after town in various parts of the colony, and the ambuscade and
defeat of various bodies of troops under brave and able officers.
United action on the part of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Con-
necticut became necessary. Governor Winslow was appointed
commander-in-chief, and additional companies were raised by the
three colonies. Among these was one commanded by Captain
Johnson, of Roxbury, already a distinguished officer, who had
led a company of Praying Indians in the earlier days of the con-
flict. He was known as the brave Captain Johnson, and in his
command it was the good fortune of a part of the men from
our town to serve. The following quaint report marks Bing-
ham's entry into the struggle, and indicates also the names of
tho8e who served her in the field: —

)

I' ■

MUUarf Hittonf- 237

To THE Hos^'*^ C0UK8ELL Now sirmro nr Botrav:

In persuance of an order from the Hon. Major Tliooias Claike beniing
date of the 29 of y* 9 m 167o« we have aooordingly by the eonsuUee
given notice to our 60ul<lien impresseil for the coontrjt lerfice to mppear
at expressed in the sayd order and find those that appear compleCdj iur^
uished for the service. Others we are informed rare] to be at Bosloa
making provbion for the sajd servioe. So ai we fbe able] they will be
completely furnished according to tayd order.

Tbe names of these souldiers are as followi, Benj* Bates, John Jnodb^
John Langlee, Edward Wilder^ Thomas Thazter, Ehenezer Lane, Sam*
merwell Lincoln Jun% Ephraim Lane, John Lazell, John BdU Willuun
Woodcock, WUl'iam Ilersey Jun% Francu Gardner, Nathaniel Beal Jui^,
Nathaniel Niools, Ilumphiey Johnson.

JosHua HoBanr, OBfUdtu
John Smith, SergL

HiKOHAM, Dee. 1, 1676.

Upon iurjuiry 4 of the above souldien are foond to want eoats whkh,
we hope will be taken at Boston to Mipply* J* H.

William Woodcock was missing when the time came to marcliy
but he subsequently appeared and served.

In addition to the above, the New England Historical and
Genealogical Register gives the names of the following as in
service from Hin«:ham : Henry Chamberlin, William Chamberliu,
Joseph Benson, Christ Whcaton, I^ac Prince, Isaac Cole, Sam-
uel Nicholson, John Dunbarr, Paul Gilford, Richard Francis, John
Chamberlin, and Dr. John Cutler. Dr. Cutler, known as ^ the
Dutchman,'* was one of the surgeons attached to the Massachu-
setts regiment under Major Appleton at the great battle with the
Xarragansetts. In his professional capacity, the care of John
Langlee and John Faxton, wounded fellow-townsmen, fell doubt-
less to him. A note also says that Josiah the Sagamore went to
fight against the Mohawks. A report of CapL John Holbrooke,
of Weymouth, shows that he had upon bis rolls six men and four
horses, and two men from Hingham, but that among the *^ de-
fects^ were Jno. Feres and Arthur Sherman from our town.
From the town records we get the names of many individuals
paid for arms and coats lost in the war. Among them are Samuel
Stoddcr, a sergeant, James Whiton^ Andrew Lane, Ephraim Wil-
der, and Simon Brown. By the same authority we learn that
Nathaniel Baker helped fill the town's quota. The following
petition from the State archives adds two soldiers to our list: —

To the much hon* Govemeur and the rest of y* Hon** Magestrates now
sitting in Councill, the petition of James Bate of Hingham, Humbly
sheweth, that whereas your petitioner having now for the space of more
than two months had two sons prest into the service against the Indians
whereby many inconveniencyes and great Damages have been sostained
by us for want of my Eldest Son who hath house and land and cattle of
his own adjoining to mine being a mile from the Town and therefore
nobody to look aiter them in his absence, and whereat there are many in

.^,.^:i>^.,M,».-,;,..:>rf,,,...,,,^i^^ ■^.■■■-- ^>^ .r^^^,.^-.:.-^^ ^-^^^^^-^.^^^^

238 History of Hingham. -

•

our Town that have many sona that were never yet in thia Service who
have also declared their willingness to take their Toms and seing God
hath been pleased hitherto to spare their Lives, If he should now take
them away before I doe again see them (npon several consideraUons) I
know not how I should beare it. My humble request therefore to your
Honours is that you would be pleased to consider our Condition and
grant them a Kelease from their Long service. So shall you as he is in
duty bound for your Honours prosperity pray and renudn yours to serve
in what he is able.

James Bate.

These sons were probably Joseph aud Benjamin. Besides
these, Gushing tells us in his diary that on October 28, 1675, his
son Thcophilus was pressed for a soldier, and marched to Men-
don, and that on December 11 he returned home.

In 1725 seven townships were granted to the officers and soldiers
living, and the heirs of those deceased, who were in the war of
1675 ; one of these townships was Bedford, and among the grantees
were a number from Hingham. Besides including part of the
names already given as in the service during this eventful period,
we find those of Joseph Thorn and Samuel Gill, then still. living.
Gornelius Gantlebury's heii*s, John Amold^s heirs, and Israel
Vickery for his father. In this connection it may be interesting
to add that on June 6, 1783, a meeting of the proprietors of
Bedford was held on Boston Gommon, and that Gol. Samuel •
Thaxter presided, and that subsequently he, with others, was
appointed on a committee to lay out the town. Including Gapt.
John Jacob, we arc thus enabled to furnish the names of some
forty-five men who served from Hingham in the war against the
great Indian warrior. Besides these there were the six or eight
in Gaptain Holbrooke^s company, and doubtless very many others
whose names the imperfect lists have failed to preserve to us.
Indeed, if the tradition that Gaptain Hobart commanded a
company in active* service is well founded, the probability is
very strong that it was largely, if not entirely, composed..pf
Hingham men.

The day after the draft for Gaptain Johnson^s company was
observed as a ^' solemn day of prayer and humiliation, to suppli-
cate the Lord's pardoning mercy and compassion towards his
poor people, and for success in Uie endeavors for repelling the
rage of the enemy."

On the 20th of December, after a night spent in the open air
without covering, and a toilsome march through deep snow,
the combined troops of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Gonnecti*
cut arrived before the great fort of the Narrasansetts, near Po-
casset, in Rhode Island. At about one o'clock the little army
moved to the attack, the advance led by Gaptain Johnson, who
was killed at the first fire, as was Gaptain Davenport, who fol-
lowed him. Before gaining the final victory, six captains were

240 HUUnry of Hingham.

•days of spring, his successful attack on one place after another,
together with the destruction of Captain Pierce, of Scituate, and
nearly all his command, while in pursuit of a body of Indians
near Seekonk, tlie burning of Marlborough, and the murders at
Long Meadow, all on March 26th, imperatively called for the
speedy reassemblage of the troops, and for vigorous measures by
the three colonies. It would not be easy to overestimate the
anxiety and alarm at this time. Various plans were proposed,
and among them was that of building a continuous stockade from
Charles River to the Merrimac. This was only negatived because
of its magnitude. In the various towns the forts and garrison
houses were constantly occupied, aud the utmost precaution taken
against surprise. May we venture, for the sake of the better
undei*staudiug of the time, to attempt one more sketch, outlined
by the recorded facts and the bits of tradition, but shaded and
filled in rather by the assistance of our general knowledge of the
people, the times, and the situation, than by any particulars of
the especial day?

It is the 16th of April, and the Sabbath-day ; a bright, crisp
morning, but the sun is already softening the surface of the quiet

Cls thinly skimmed, perhaps for the last time in the earlier
rs; the frost coming out of the ground makes moist the
paths ; the brook at the foot of the meeting-house hill is dancing
with its swollen flood and sparkling in the sunlight, while over
and along it the pussy-willows are already nodding, and the red
maple's blossoms go sailing and tossing in the pools and eddies.
A little further up the stream the ever-graceful elms are begin-
ning to look fresh and feathery in their swelling and opening
buds, while on the slopes rising up from the valley the blossoms
of the wild cherry and the dogwood gleam white among the dark
trunks and branches of the os^s and the sombre shadows of the
evergreens. In the warm nooks the blue, and in the swampier
meadow the white violet breathes out the same faint sweetness
which in the same spots, two hundred years later, will delight the
school-children of another age, while above them the red berries
of the alder and the seed-vessels of last year's wild roses give
brightness and color to the shrubbery not yet awakened to its
new life ; the bluebird, the song sparrow, and the robin twitter
in the branches, while a great black crow lazily flaps his way
across to the horizon ; possibly here and there, in some shaded
and protected places, the melting remnants of a late snow linger
yet, but in the clearings elsewhere the young grass has already
veiled the earth in fresh green. The furrows of the planting
fields show that the farmer has already commenced his prepara-
tion for the spring sowing, but some of the more distant lots tell
of the universal apprehension, for last autumn's stubble in them
still stands unmolested. The quiet of the Puritan Sabbath has
no fears for his highness the barnyard cock, whose clarion and

Mmtarg Hutory. 841

cheery notes are heard far and near, while funt columns and
blue wreaths of smoke rising here and there each mark fhe home
of a settler. Hours since, with the rising sun, Steven Lincoln
has beaten the drum, and the tired and half-frozen sentry has
been relieved and replaced by the *^ warde for the Lord's aay ; "
the quaint, palisaded log buildiug, with its belfry, which had
served so long as a house of worship, of a meeting place for pub-
lic conference, of refuge in alarm, of storage for ammunition, of
defence from danger, and which is getting old and must soon be
deserted, still stands overlooking the village, its doors wide open
for the nine o^clock service, and the clanging of its little bell
bidding the living to *^ remember the Sabbath day to keen it
holy," while to them under the little green mounds on the slope
between the two roads it tolls a requiem. Groodman Pitts, the
venerable sexton, still restrains with his watchful eye the small
boy and awes him into a temporary quiet, while the people more
decorously into their allotted places, the men and the women
each into their own parts of the house. See them as they come
picking out the best and dryest places between the deep ruts and
along the paths, now two or three abreast, and now in single
file, stretching along the ways leading to the meeting-hbuse.
How sturdy the men look, with their belted coats and broad-
brimmed hats, and the inevitable musket, which each places
against the building or some neighboring tree before entering I
How cheery the good wives seem, even in the midst of the gen-
eral anxiety, as Uiey greet each other and pause for a word of
inquiry about tlie children — by no means few in number — who
arc trailing along after ; and how sweet the Puritan maidens seem
to us as they glance shyly at the great rough lads, whom danger
and responsibility have so quickly transformed into manly young
soldiers. Here from the Plain comes John Bull, and his young
wife, Goodman Pitts's daughter, bringing perhaps a message
and report to Captain Hohart from Lieutenant Smith, whose
watchful care for the fort keeps him away to-day. Indeed, many
a one is forced by the threatening peril to an unusual absence^
and the attendance will l)e strangely small. Still, most of the
people from the lower part of the town are on their way, though
with anxious hearts, and many a thought will wander from <he
long sermon of the day to the little home, and every sound from
without will strain again the already weary eara. There, crossing
the bridge by the corduroy road, is John Langlee, leading his little
daughter Sarah, and talking by the way to young Peter Barnes ;
while close behind come Sergeant Thomas Andrews, with his wife
and six children ; and a few rods further back we see Mr. Samuel
Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln, with their straight young son Samuel,
whose title of comet is well deserved, and who is not only the
pride of his parents, but one of the heroes of the town for his
gallant part m the great Narragausett fight ; there, too, are his

VOL. I. — 15

■aiJAaiMiafc^^^*-., ,.f^.^^ -T >• ^«ni, i T^ns^ ...lu^^^ ....... .. .^.^ ^. ^...-^^ ^ J ^ ^ jP^^ ^ ^^^

242 HUtorjf qf Hingham.

brothers, and two or three of his little sisters, following as sol-
emnly as youth and a bright day will permit. Just stepping out
of his door is Benjamin Lincoln, whose wife, Sarah, with her
little son John and six-years-old Margaret, are stopping to greet
their uncles, John and Israel Fearing, who live next door.
Bounding the corner of Bachelor^s Bow, with a brisk stride and
erect carriage, we see Ensign John Thaxter, who has come down
from the fort on Fort Hill, where all seems tranquil, leaving Ser-
geant Daniel Lincoln in charge while he attends meeting and
holds a council of war with Captain Hobart. On his way we
presume he stopped at the garrison house at Austin's Lane to
speak a word of warning and make a kindly inquiry for Mrs.
Bate and the four-days-old girl ; and only a moment ago we saw ,
a sterner \(kk as he sharply inquired of the luckless inmate of
the stocks what folly had made him a victim on this Sabbath
morning. Near a large tree upon the hill, and against whose
broad trunk rest half a dozen muskets, quietly awaiting Ensign
Thaxter, stands one of Bingham's two foremost citizens, the late
speaker of the House of Deputies and captain of the town forcea
Captain Hobart is sixty-two years of age, and among the darker
locks the gray hairs are thickly scattered, yet in his well-knit
figure there is little sign of age ; a strone, able, brave, wise man,
loaded with all the honors in the gift of his townsmen, faithful
for many years in their service, he is crowning his work by a care
and watchfulness which will save those whose confidence is so
well reposed in him from the horrors which have devastated so
many sister communities. Even -dow he might have been seen
coming along the path among the trees that runs between the
meeting-house and the central fort, the garrison of which latter
he has in part relieved for the services of the day.

As the soldier in long boots, short-belted coat and sword, with
his alert military air waits, we note the similarity and yet the
dissimilarity between him and the slightly bent and older figure
which in long cloak and buckled shoes is rather slowly mounting
the hill, though declining the proffered arm of Ensign Thaxter.
It is Parson Hobart himself, ten years the senior of his distin-
guished brother, and in disposition scarcely less a soldier. His
long ministry is drawing near its close, but there is little diminu-
tion in the sparkle of his eye or the vigor of his manner. We
can almost see the grave salute with which the Captain greets
the Elder, and the equal gravity with which it is returned ; we
seem to hear the brief inquiry and reply, after which the one
passes into the presence of his assembling congregation, while
the other remains lor a short interview with his subordinate.

Within the house are the Hobarts, brothers and nephews of
the old parson, the Beals, Dr. Cutler, Joseph Cliurch, Daniel and
Samuel Stodder, with numerous members of their large families,
Joseph Joy, Samuel Thaxter, and many others. Even now we

MilUarg Hidarg. 243

can almost feel the uneasy restlessness which pervades the
shippers. Many of the friends, usually so regylar in their attend-
ance, are away in the forts and garrison houses, and all throufch
the sermon, probably several hours long, the thoughts of tlie
listeners wander, and the strained ears catch with apprehension
every unusual noise from without Wc imagine, too, that when
at last Captain Hobart and Ensign Thaxter enter to join in the
service, neitlier will take their accustomed seats, but more likeljr
will remain near the door, and where perhaps the keen eye of
the commander can keep within view the muskets without, and oo-
casionally catch a glimpse of the ** warde,*' moving from one point
of vantage to another. Meanwhile tlie hitter, not perhaps sorrr
to be in the open air this April morning, keeps eye and ear alert
for sign or sound of the wily foe. From the summit almost the
whole of tlie lower village can be seen. Across the glassy waters
of the inner bay, which, stretching away from his very feet, are
broken into several shady coves and dotted with islands^ he is
following with ill-pleased attention a canoe paddled by an Indian,
who a moment later may be seen climbing the cliffs on the eastern
shore and losing himself in the forest paths which lead toward
Neck Gate Hill, from behind which a faint blue smoke rises and
fades slowly away. There ofi tlie southeastern slope, and nearly
at the foot of the hill, are the wigwams of the little-trusted
countrymen of Philip who yet remain in the vicinity. This spot,
by tradition said to have been the last camping-plaoe of tlie
Indian in Bingham, is comprehended in the propertv now owned
by Mr. T. T. Bouv^, and called, from the fact and the confieunir
tion of the land, *^ Indian Hollow." The smooth lawn of the

E resent day shows no sign, but the plow would reveal a long and
road line of disintegrating clam-shells, doubtless a shell-heap
of the former inhabitants, and several implements have been
picked up in the immediate vicinity which were formerly in
use by them. However, beyond a mental growl of dissatisfae-
tion at what he termed the folly of allowing the encampment
to remain, our sentry of 1676 could do nothing; so, turning
towards the bine waters of the harbor, his eye falls upon the
sliip-yard of William Pitts, the first one established in Hingham.
He watches, too, for a few moments the white sails of a West
Indiaman as she passes between Nantasket and George's Island
and thence towards Boston. Then he. walks slowly over to the
new fort, and carefully scans the country in every direction as
far as the eye can reach and the forests permit And so the
long hours pass away until the close of the service brings the
uneasy officers out of the meeting, first of all for a conference
with the watch, who, however, has little to report And now
the worshippers are wending their way homeward, singly and in
groups, some discussing the weather, and others, it is probable,
commenting, like their descendants of later frenerations, upon

244 HUtory of Etngham.

the sermon which they have just heard, while we may be 8ur$ all
are thankful to rcti^rn once more to undespoiled homes. Others,
who come from a great distance, meet together and eat the frugal
luncheon between the morning and afternoon service, while a
few« husband and wife, mount pillion fashion the horses which
have been awaiting the close of the services under the trees, and
ride to their homes.

As the rich glow of the setting sun crimsons the glassy harbor
and turns to gold the fleecy clouds of April, while the shadows
creep up from the valleys,' the tap-tap and rattle and roll of
Steven Lincoln^s drum sings the vespers of the Puritans, and
the Sabbath is over. Then comes the new watch, who being
properly instructed and ])ostcd begins his hours of vigil. The
^rrisons are carefully looked to ; the orders for the night issued.
The poor victim of the stocks, if not before released, is now given
liberty. The restraints upon the children are relaxed, and during
the brief period of twilight secular pursuits are resumed; the
cattle are seen to, the wood brought in, and the wide old-fashioned
fireplaces blaze and crackle with the long sticks, while above the
, kettle hisses and sings laud its cover rises and falls and rattles.
Here and there the tallow dip assists in its poor faint way ^ the
busy housewife ply her evening care," and then an hour later, the
low thatchcd-roof cottages are wrapped in darkness, and the stars^
shine out upon the town at rest. Only the half-chilled, weary
soldier on guard watches for the beacon, or listens for the signfu
guns which shall call the men of Hingham to the aid of Nan-
tasket or Scituate or Weymouth, or awaken them to the defence
of their own wives and children and homes.

What a dreary duty it is, too, this waiting and fearing for the .
dreaded warwhoop of the Indian in the still and lonesome hours
^ of the night. How the eye grows strained peering into the dark-
* ness and the ear weary listening, and with what a nervous start
each new sound, each before unnoticed shadow is noted by the
young sentry moving among the aisles of the great trees on the
height overlooking the village ! What a relief, though all too
brief, is the visit of Captain Hobart, whose vigilance causes many
a restless and wakeful hour in these trying days ; and how doubly
appalling seems tlie solitude as the sound of the Captain's re-
treating steps die away in the distance, leaving the long hours until
dawn to be counted away alone, before whose coming the sentry's
breath shall more than once stop, while he hears the beating of
his own heart, at the imagined creeping form of an Indian.

The defences of Hingham and the preparation for the protection
of her inhabitants have already been described. Even in the
absence of other evidence, the comparative immunitv of the settle-
ment from serious loss and the total failure on tne part of the
Indians, almost constantly lurking in the vicinity, to effect any-
thing like a general surprise, would in themselves be strong

Military Hi$tor^ 2i»-

indicatioDB of the ability and watchfulness of those responsible
for the safety of the town. The incidents attending the several
attempts upon it, and the intelligent location of the forts and
garrison houses, with their garrisons at this time made permanent,
the mutual support wliich they afforded each other, and the fact
that scarcely a house from Fort Hill to Broad Bridge, and thence
to South Hingham, was beyond the range of fire of one or more of
them, added to the vigilance which anticipated and forestalled
panic when the hour of peril and trial at last came, furnish indu-
bitable proof of the military instinct, knowledge, foresid^t, and
faithfulness of Joshua Hobart, John Smith, and John Thaxtcr.
Beyond question it is to this due that the two known attempts
against the town met with comparative failure; of others, con-
templated but abandoned, owing to the thorough dispositions for
meeting them, we of course know little.

In this connection we recall the old tradition that Philip himself
was at one time concealed within our borders and awaituig per-
haps a favorable opportunity to make a descent. As the story
runs, he lay somewhere in the region known as the swamp, which
in those days extended with scarcely a break from Broad Bridge
to near the Weymouth line, and included the location of Round
Pond and the district known as Bear Swamp. The sagacious
chief probably concluded that the chance of success was too small
and the risk of severe loss too great to justify a movement against
tlie lower part of tlie town, and therefore prudently withdrew.
No amount of caution, however, could insure individnal life or tlie
safety of isolated farms against the silence and celerity of the
Indian war parties. One of these, having perhaps eluded Captain
Jacob, whose small force could hardly hope to cover the long
frontier assigned to its care, was moderately successful at South
Hingham in bringing the terror and horrors of the war home to
our own firesides.

On Wednesday, the 19th of April, young John Jacob, who, as it
will be recalled, had served against Philip the previous autumn,
and had seen his brave captain fall before the fort of the Narra-
gansetts, took his gun and went out to shoot the deer that had
been trespassing upon a field of buckwheat near his father^s house
and not far from the site of tlie present Great Plain Meeting-house.
He was a famous hunter and of a fighting stock, and he had been
heard to declare that he would never be taken alive by the Indians.
Little did he dream that spring morning that his would be the
only blood ever shed by a public enemy upon the soil of his native
town.

The simple and brief accounts, with a little assistance perhaps
of the imagination, bring like a living panorama before us the
events, the homes, and the actors of that and the following day
m the far away time when our prosaic town was making a part of
the history which has become one of the romantic chapters of New

246 History of Hingham.

England's story. On this 19th of April, then, of the year 1676, and
shortly after the disappearance of Jacob, the sound of a musket
breaking the stillness and echoing against the great solitary rode
that stands like a mighty monument in the fiela not far from the
travelled way, momentarily attracts the attention of the neighbors
whose habits of industry have overcome the general prudence, and
who had been enticed to a little earlv planting on the home lot. •
Beyond the fleeting thought of their friend's success in his efforts
to chastise the mischievous destro^'ers of the winter wheat, the
incident attracts no attention, and soon passes from the minds of
the workers. With the lapse of considerable time, however, and
the continued absence of the hunter, there arises a feeling of
strained uneasiness ; finally a search is made, and there beside his
gun, which 'has been battered to pieces, the young soldier lies
dead. The terrifying truth flashes across the searchers as they
tenderly and hastily bear their neighbor to his father's home.
The Indians are in Hingham and have been lying concealed during
the night near the wheat-field, and almost close to the homes of
the settlers ! And now in an instant und from every side, out of
the calm and quiet of the village street there starts the life, the
uncontrolled excitement, the panic and terror of the community,
above and about whom the threatening horror of the tomahawk
and scalping-knife already seems to gleam, and before whose
fevered imagination come all too readily pictures of cruelty and'
torture. The blanched faces of men and women alike, the cling-
ing fear of the children, the hurrying to the nearest garrison
houses of those not already therein, the exaggerated stories and
rumors, the cry '^ The Indians ! the Indians ! " rising above all other
sounds, repeated again and again, carrying consternation from
the Great Plain to the harbor, and falling upon the startled ear of
the farmer in the field and the wife in the kitchen, — how the
sights and the sounds of that day thrill us through ttiese passed
centuries !

And soon we hear the sharp clanging of the little bell on the
meeting-house, the beat and roll and rattle of the drum, the sharp
reports of the three alarm muskets, and into the forte, the pali-
saded church, and the garrison houses come the streaming, hurry*
ing throng. We fancy we can see brave Joshua Hobart making,
calmly and sternly, his dispositions for defence, and even person-
ally visiting and instructing each sentry and urging to unceasing
vigilance ; or brilliant John Thaxter ably seconding his chief, and
inspiring with confidence the garrisons at Austin's Lane and Fort
Hill ; or John Smith cheering the people as they flock into the

{protecting works on the common field. And there come be-
ore us, too, sturdy John Tower and his sons and ** one or two
more persons," as his petition reads, holding his little fort and
covering a long section of the river and the homes of his neigh-
bors with his musketo, while he checks the panic with his plai%

Hidorf. 241

strong words. Nor is it possible to OTorlook tbe figare in tbe
long cloak, moving more slowly, it is true, than when speaJung hin
mind to the magistrates, but still with considerable Tigor ana the
natural grace of a man of superior mind and strong will ; eveij-
one recognizes immediately the venerable minister, and manj %
word of hope and many an admonition to duty he speaks as he
passes among his people exerting his quieting influence upon tfaem.
With our knowledge of his younger days, we cannot help thinking
that he had moments of impatience in the reflection that his age
and calling prevented a more active participation in the move-
ments against the enemy ; nor would it surprise us to learn that
Parson Ilobart more than once thought, and even said, that if he
were Captain Hobart the military operations would be conducted
with more reference to an offensive policy. Be that as it may,
the latter^s dispositions saved the town and the lives of those
whose safety was committed to his care.

Succeeding the first alarm there followed many weary hoars
of anxiety and waiting. The day, with its exciting rumors and
exaggerated stories, wore away, and a nieht of watchfulness^
with a terror hanging over the people huddled together in their
strange quarters diflicult to picture, seemed interminable. Nor
was the dawn much more reassurine, for soon the smoke from the
burning homes of Joseph Jones and Anthony Sprague ^ over the
river,*' and of Israel Hobart, Nathaniel Chubbuck, and James
Whiton rose into view from widely separated points on the south-
ern horizon, and added fresh consternation to the anxious
watchers. These fires, however, were the last acts of the Indians,
who abandoned the attack. The second visit was just one month
later, being the 20th of May. It was even more fruitless, and the
savages soon passed into Scituate, which they largely destroyed.

Oct. 12, 1676, the General Court ordered "^ That Hingham be
allowed and abated out of their last tax rates towards their losses
by the enemy the sum of ten pounds.**

The soldiers from Hingham appear to have been engaged in
some of the most arduous service of the war, for besides leading
the van in the great Narragansett fight, as already stated, we find
them serving under the immediate command of their old towns-
man, tbe brave Captain Church, on Martha*s Vineyard and the
adjacent islands ; and it need not be said that service under that
officer was of the most active kind.

August the 12th Philip was killed at Mt Hope and the war
closed, but the military preparations of the colony rather in-
creased than otherwise, and the towns as a necessary conse-
quence participated in the general activity. In 1679 a petition
for leave to form a small t]*oop of horse in Hingham, Weymouth,
and Hull, signed bv Captain Hobart and others, was granted, and
in June of the following year Ensign John Thaxter, whom we
have already seen as one of Captain Hobart*s company officers,

iiiii titMi ii[f irn III uliiit^im^mti^miitkakiidttiiSkittUiti^^

248 HUtarjf of Hingham,

and who earlier, in 1664, had served with such distinction in the
expedition against the Dutch in New York as to be ^* preferred
for,** as the phrase runs, under orders of Cromwell, was commis-
sioned to its command, with Samuel White, probably of Wej*
mouth, as lieutenant, and Matthew Gushing as cornet,'** so as the
said Matthew Gushing take the oath of freedom,*' which he
appears to have done. The same year Jacob Nash was appoint^
quartermaster, and the new troop together with the rest of the
military in the town was attached to a new regiment under
Maj. Wm. Stoughton.

Sergt. Jeremiah Beale was apiK)inted ensign of the foot com-
pany May 11, 1681, which remained under command of Captain
Hobart until his death in 1682, when the periodical trouble which >
this company seems to have given the government whenever new
officers were to be chosen again called forth a sharp reproof, with
a reminder that an acknowledgment of error was expected. This
time the difficulty was over the desire of a part of the command
that Thomas Andrews be commissioned ensign instead of James
flawke. The magistrates, however, disapproved of both, and
appointed Lieutenant Smith to be captain. Ensign Beale as
lieutenant, and Thomas Lincoln to be ensign. -

A reminder of **Tlie late Indian Warr,'* as the old State
paper terras it, is found in a grant dated June 4, 1685, as a re-
ward for services, to ** Samuel Lyncolne and three more of Hing-
ham, and others of other towns, of land in the Nipmuck country.**

Among the many interesting entries in Daniel Gushing's diary,
from which not a little of the town's history has become known,
is this: **1G88, Nov. 5th, soldiers pressed 11 to go against the
Indians." These men were perhaps a pai*t of Sir Edmund Andres's
small army of eight hundred with which he marched to the
Penobscot, an expedition in which, it will be remembered, little
was accomplished of value.

April 18, 1689, Gov. Edmund Andres was arrested by the pjeo-
ple of Boston, who had risen against the tyranny and corru^on
of his government. The next day the conduct of public affairs
was assumed by the Gouncil of Safety, of which Bradstreet was
chosen president. On May 8th, acting doubtless under the orders
of this extraordinary body, the train band went to Boston where
on the ninth were gathered the representatives of forty-three
towns. Cushing's diary tells us that a town meeting was held
on the 17th to choose a member of the Gouncil. The choice fell
upon Gapt. Thomas Andrews, already distinguished in town
affairs, and who had been a representative in 1678. It was a
distinction wisely bestowed, and doubtless while performing the
delicate duties of his new office in a critical period, attention was
called to that ability which soon after gave him the distinguished
honor of being selected as one of the twenty-one captains ap-
pointed for duty with Sir Wm. Fhips in his attempt at the reduo-

MUiiaty Hitiorg. 249

•

tiou of Canada. This officer, recently appointed high-aheriff d
New England, sailed from Boston early in tiie spring of 1690 for
Port RoyaL The fort surrendered with but litue reustanoe, and
three weeks later Sir William returned to Boston to prepare for
the more ambitious attempt upon Quebec. August Stn, be sailed
with upwards of thirty vessels and two thousand Massacbusetto
men, among whom were Captain Andrews, Lieutenant Chubbuek^
and other llingham men ; how many we do not know.

Octol>er 5 the fleet dropped anchor beneath the castle which
was commanded bv Frontenac, an old and distinguished French
officer. The attack commenced on the 8th, and was contiiiued
during the two following days, when the colonial troona retreated
after suffering great loss. Sir William returned to Boston with
the remnant of his army and fleet, arriving there November 19.
At least one of our townsmen was killed in the attack upon
Quebec, while another, Isaac Lasell, died a few davs after, proba-
1 bly of wounds, while Paul Gilford, Samuel Judkins, Jonathan

Burr, Daniel Tower, and Jonathan May, and '^ two more of the
town '* were carried off by the small pox, which broke out in the
fleet and added its misfortunes to tho disasters of the expedition.

On the 25th of the month Captain Andrews succumbed to the
dreaded disease; a stone m the old Granary burying-ground
marks his last resting-place. The succeeding day Lieutenant
Chubbuck died also. This ill-fated attempt was followed by tlie
long struggle between France in the New World and New England
and the colonics south and west, which only terminated a few vcars
preceding the American Revolution. The history of the period is
that of exasperating and wasteful incapacity, oftentimes on the
part of British commanders in this country, of disastrous defeats, of

f;loriou8 victories, of cruelties on both sides which we would gladly
orget, of bravery, persistence, and enterprise by Massachusetts
men of which we may well be proud, and of final triumph, dne in
very large measure to the arms of New England and the training
of a soldiery under the laws of our own and the neighboring
colonies which only made success possible. It is the history m
Louisburg, of Fort Necessity and its gallant young commander,
of Crown Point, Fort William Henry, Acadia and its piteous story,
Shirley and Winslow, Wolfe and Montcalm, and the Heights of
Abraham. During its telling we learn of Braddock*s defeat, of
Ticonderoga, of Fort Frontenac ; we become acquainted with the
Howes, with Gage, Fraser, and a score of other English officers
who afterwards played a part in the contest with the mother
country. We first meet Washington and soon come to know why
none other could have been the future American commander ; we
see Gates and Putnam and Stark in their earlier days, while
Franklin and Otis already are shaping the legislation and destiny
of their respective States. During all this period, in all the wars,
and in nearly every battle fought in the North we shall find, on

Min.MhiMi«iiliMiiilMittMiiii>

250 HUUny of Hingham. "

fiea and on land, the sona of Hingham creditably participating.
Tliey are in the contest as soldiers, as officers, as councillors and
advisers, and in numbers which seem at times almost incredible
considering the probable population of the town. It is interest-
ing too, to note the individual names of those concerned in the
later French wars, and afterwards to observe the use to which so
many put the invaluable experience and knowledge then gained^
in the subsequent service of the Revolution.

The extremely small scale, as compared with modem days,
upon which financial matters were carried on by the town in
connection with its military interests, will doubtless have been
observed. An interesting illustration is afforded by an entry in
the Selectipen's Records of 1691, as follows : -r-

The first day of July, 1691, then received by the Selectmen of tOag-
ham tenn pouDds in silver money of Mr. Daniell Gushing, Sen., of Hing*
ham, which hee, the said Daniell Gushing, lend to the Country for the
carying one the present expedition against the Gommon enemys of the
Gouutry and b to have it payd to him, his heirs, exexutors, administrators,
or asigns, in silver money on or befor the last day of September next
insning the dat hearoL

Gushing's diary,, under date of July 14, 1694, says that
*^ Edward Gilman was pressed to be a soldier to go out against
the French army,*' and under date of October 29 of the same year
we are informed '^ that Edward Gilman came home out of the
country's service.*' This small draft from Hingham, if indeed it
was all, was probably her proportion of the force raised to meet
the harassing and incessant incursions of the Indians, incited by
the French, which for the ten closing years of the century left
no peace to the colony, and which had for its principal episode'
in that year the attack on Groton, July 27th. Gaptain John
Smith, who died in 1695, was probably succeeded in the command
of the company by Thomas Lincoln, who had long served as an
officer, having been an ensign as early as 1681. At all events we
find in the town records of 1697-98, the following : —

The town stock of ammunition is in the hands of the 3 commanders of
Divs. viz., Gapt. Thomas Lincoln 1 bbl. of powder and 198 weight of
bulleU and 260 flinU : to Lieut. David Hobart, 1 bbl. of powder and 200
and a half of bullets, gross weight, & 260 flinU: to Ensign James
Hawks 1 bbl. powder d; 190 weight of bulleU, net, and 260 flints.

In 1702 a second company was formed in that part of Hingham
which is now Gohassct, and which became what was formerly
known as the Second Precinct

In 1722 the colony declared war, owing to exasperating Indian
depredations upon Ipswich and other places, and among the
names of men serving under Captain Ward, of Scarboro', are

^^i^Mii^hi^yfcaMitiM*^aMytii>iiiMM>iatf I "tMrtrtfTlnn in 'fliiirii I 1 II *■ mil ■

252 ^ HUtary qf.Hlnghanu -^

first of these was in 1740, wlien Governor Belcher received orders
to enlist a force to be sent to Cuba to the relief of Admiral^Ver-
non, who was in need of reinforcements. Among the five hundred
soldiers recruited in Massachusetts, there is much reason to
believe that quite a number were recruited in Hingham. The
rolls are, however, not only very imperfect in other respects, but
they fail entirely to name tlic towns from which men served.
We know, however, that among the officers was Lieut. Joshua
Barker, who had declined a captaincy, and who now went as
second in the company commanded by Captain Winslow. Lien-
tenant Barker was one of the very few survivors of this ill-fated
expedition, in which, it will be recollected, was Lawrence Wash-
ington and a Virginia contingent The forces of Massachusetts
and Virginia together stormed the castle of Carthagena, the prin-
cipal town of the Spanish Main in New Granada. The place was
not taken, however, and the expedition was a dismal failure. It
is said that only fifty of the men from Massachusetts returned.
Lieutenant Barker afterwards, as Captain Barker, served in all
the wars of his country from this time until 1762, when he was
again engaged in the second and more successful attack upon
the Spanish West Indies. He held a commission in the British
service, and was a kind and able man. He resided upon the
spot where now stands the Hingham Bank.

There was also a Nathaniel Chubbuck in this service, who may
have been a townsman.

On the night of September 30, 1741, a number of the Spanish
prisoners escaped from Boston with a large sail-boat. As they
were armed, great fear was felt for the safety of the New Eng-
land coasting vessels, and Capt. Adam Gushing, formerly one of
Hingham*s selectmen, and now an able officer, was ordered in

f)ursuit, with special instructions to search the creeks of Hing-
lam and Weymouth. There remains no account of his success
or otherwise.

In 1740, a division of the town into the wards whose limits
remain unchanged to this day took place, and it is interesting to
note that this division was solely for military purposes, and that
the ward boundaries were merely those of the several companies,
which the town thereafter maintained. At this time Cohasset,
which had been made the second precinct in 1702, continued to
be so designated, while the third comprised what is now known
as the middle ward, embracing that part of the town south of the
town brook, as far as Cold Corner, the remainder lying in the
former fourth, now the south ward. The first, or north ward,
then as now, embraced the country north of the brook. The first
powder-house in Hingham was built by the town in 1755. It
stood a little north and nearly on the site of the New North Meet-
ing-house. Afterwards it was removed to Powder-house Hill, near
where Mr. Arthur Hersey's house now is, off Hersey street.

Military Hiriarg. 25S

Frequently in the archiTes of the State and of the Tarioos
towns there are references to the '* Old French War/* to the ^ Ex-
pedition to the Eastward,** to the ^^ Expedition to Cape Breton/*
and to the ^'Capture of Louisbnrg.*' The expressions are all
rather misleading, because they a-cre, and unfortunately still
occasionally are, indiscriminately used in referring to each of the
several attempts made at different times upon the Frendi pos-
sessions in the northeast provinces, or to either of the several
wars between France and England in America subsequent to
1700. The mischief of the expressions becomes the greater
when leading, as it sometimes docs, to historical errors. Lideed,
it is to this cause that the accurate placing of a number of oar
own citizens, as to the time and place of service, becomes impoa-
sible. The expression *^OId French War*' — and indeed the
others mentioned also — more generally and more properly relate
to the events in North America between the years 1744 and I7489
during which occurred that wonderful New England military
expedition and crusade which resulted in the capture by some
four thousand men, assisted by tlie English fleet, of the strongest
fortified city in the New World, and which was considered capable
of resisting an army of thirty thousand. In the limits of a local
history it is impossible to give even the outlines of this romance
of New England's arms. 'We can only tell the very little of
which we have any record concerning our own townsmen's con-
nection with the brave Sir William Pepperell, and Commodore
Warren, and the officers and men who sailed from Boston in
March, 1745, and entered as victors the ** Dunkirk of America**
on the 17th of June following. It is most unfortunate that the
rolls of these troops are lost from the State archives, and that
such as exist in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical
Society arc not only very imperfect, but are comparatiTely value-
less, from the fact that the places from which the men enlisted
are not given. It is probably owing to this that we are enabled
to give the names of only a few as serving from Hingham. These
are Thomas Lewis, Ralph Smith, and Edward Ward.

Among a number who signed a voluntary agreement to eng^age
in a hazardous attempt to storm the Island battery in the harbor
of Louisburg, we find the name of Ebenezer Beal, presumably a
Hingham man. Israel Gilbert, who died later in tne sendee, is
said to have been a soldier in the " Old French War.**

Samuel Lincoln and John Stephenson were also at Louisburg
in some capacity, and received pay for assisting in ^ wooding the
garrison." The following were also soldiers at Louisburg, and
there can be little doubt were Hingham men* John Lewis,
Joshua Lasell, Thomas Jones,. Samuel Gilbert, and John Wilder.

By the terms of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded in
1748, Louisburg was surrendered to the French, and the work of
taking it had subsequently to be done agauu

254 History of Hingham.

The peace was, at least in America, more nominal than real,
and the usual encroachments of each party upon the claimed
possessions of the other, with all the attendant barbarities of
border war, recommenced almost with the signing of the treaty.
Nevertlieless, the fifty years' conflict between the civilization and
aims of the Saxon and the civilization and aims of the Latin
was drawing to its close, and the year 1754 saw the beginning of
tlie end. In the South its first notes were heard in the conflict
between the Virginians under Washington and the French on the
Ohio ; in the North the real signal was the march of an army (rf
eight hundred Massachusetts men, under Gen. John Winslow, to
secure by forts the passes from Quebec to New England, although
negotiations were carried on between France and England even ^
months later for an amicable settlement of all disputes between
them. General Winslow fortified several places on or near the
Kennebec. In his regiment, in Capt John Lane's company, were
Scrf^eant Elijah Gushing, Ephraim Hall, and Isaac Larrabee, of
Hiugham.

Engaged in this same expedition probably, was the sloop
^ Mermaid,** of eighty^ve tons, of which Samuel Lincoln was
master, Samuel Johnson mate, and Charles Clapp and James
White were sailors. Clapp's residence is unknown. The others,
as well as the sloop, undoubtedly belonged in Hingham. Samuel
Lincoln was styled Captain in later life.

In the spring of the following year, negotiations having been
broken off in December, troops and transports began to arrive
from England, and in April Shirley and the other colonial gov-
ernors met Braddock in consultation. The events which fol-
lowed can be scarcely more than named. Parkman, in his
^^ Montcalm and Wolfe," has related them with a charm and
grace which give to the hard facts of history the enchantment
of romance.

Tot with many, perhaps nearly all, of the occurrences in
the North and East, Hingham was so closely and intimately
connected, through the very large number of her sons who
participated in tiiem, that some brief explanations, expanding
occasionally into narrative of what has elsewhere been better
told, may be allowable here. If the rolls of participants in the
first taking of Louisburg were incomplete, and the numbers
serving from this town wei*e apparentiy meagre, the fulness^ of
the former and the length of names making up the latter, which
are to be found in the Commonwealth's papers, at once sur-
prise and gratify, although the task of eliminating repetitions
in the different returns, and crediting the men properly to the
places to which they belonged, is extremely difficult. After the
death of General Braddock, Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts,
became for the time the commander of the British forces in
America, and among the several expeditions planned by him was

256 Historjf of Hingham. ^^ ^

esting of these is that Joseph Biake, whose father had been a
resident of Hingham, was, although but sixteen years of f^, an
officer under Colonel Wiuslow, and was sent with a detachment
of the French Neutrals, as the Acadians were called, to this
town. '

Lieutenant Blake, who afterwards came to live here, went to
Grown Point the next year as an officer in Major Thaxter*s com-
pany. Little is known concerning the Acadians who came here ;
even their names are for the most part unrecorded and forgotten.
They were, however, generally very poor, and worked at almost
any employment obtainable. Some of them were for a time
lodged in the old Hcrscy house on Summer Street, now the prop-
erty of A. H. Hersey and Mrs. Andrew, where within a f^w ,
ycara a window was preserved upon whose small panes some of
the exiles had scratched their names or initials with the stone
in a ring belonging to one of tliem. In the field near this old
house, 80 tradition says, these poor unfortunates were in the
habit of meeting, to hold, in quiet and peace, religious services
in the faith of theif youth and their homes.

Another family occupied a part of the old Gushing house at the
foot of the Academv Hill ; and still another what is generally
called the Welcome Lincoln residence at West Hingham. The few
names that remain to us of these people are as follows : Joseph
and Alexander Brow, Gbarles, Peter, and John Trawhaw, and
Anthony Ferry. Beyond the inhumanity of their expatriation,
the treatment of the Acadians by the people of New England was
often kind, and even sympathetic. Without a country, separated
from the neighbors and friends with whom they had spent all their
happy days, in some cases members even of their own families
lost to their knowledge, their sunny homes destroyed, their lands
forfeited to the stranger, deprived of the ministrations of their
religion, hearing always a foreign tongue, seeing always un-
familiar faces, watched, suspected, trammelled, poor, their condi*
tion, let us be thankful, was at least not aggravated b? extreme
bodily suffering, or by the coldness, neglect, and indifiference of
their conquerors. Indeed, many of those who reached Ganada
looked back with longing eyes towards the land of the Puritans,
where a kinder welcome and more generous charity softened their,
hard lot than that given by their compatriots.

The town records of Hingham contain many entries showing
liberal disliurscments for the benefit of such of these people as
were in want ; and in the volumes devoted to the French Neutrals -
in the State archives, are several accounts allowed by the Province
of Massachusetts Bay to the town for money expended in their
behalf. Among these is the following in relation to a family
which came here Nov. 29, 1755 : —

JOSKl'll lit.MitL

MlftM«Au&Ua^dWHlHMHAA*hMilktiu^^iMH

r •

: 1

MUitary History. 257

Pkotincb or Massachusetts Bat.
Suffolk sa.

•

To the HoH^ Josiah WiUard E$q. Seereiarf

In pursuance of an act of the Great and Gen* Conrt of the ProTUioa
afor^, tlie following U the account of the Selectmen of the town of Hingi-
hatn in the County ufor^ of their expense in the support of the Frendi
called Neutrals late Inhabitants of Nova Scotia sent to said town by order
of the Committee appointed to dispose of the same, the family sent to
sd town were Anthony Ferry & wife & five small children and one single
woman in all Eight, this accompt is from the First day of June 1756 to
the tenth day of Nov' 1756 for tools db provisions &c is twelve ponuds
fourteen Stirling and four pence

£12:14:4

Daniel Bbal ^ S ebd mm
Enoch Lincoln yofl%e Taum
Joseph Thaxteb ) of Hingkam.

This family was subsequently increased by the arrival of an
aged mother and by the birth of another child. The Feriya were
removed to Boston in 1760 by order of the committee. Some of
the old diaries contain references to the employment, from time
to time, of one or another of the Acadians, about the farm-work
then in hand. Here are a few extracts : —

1760 April 18 Two French boys for husking com

May 23 Employed the Frenchmen. Charge them with 88 lbs. Salt

Beef Joseph Brow, Alexander Brow, Charles Trawhaw, Peter Trawhaw,

John Trawhaw.

Oct 28 Employ^ the old Frenchman Alexander Brow and Peter

Trawhaw also the other Brows and Trawhaws at Husking for several days

The fate of these families is lost in the obscurity of history.
It is probable that they entirely died off or removed from Hing-
ham, for no descendants of any of them are known to exist.

Among the men impressed and enlisted by Colonel Lincoln out
of his regiment for service in Canada in 1759, were, besides
Lieutenant Blake, Capt. Jotham Gay and Gideon Hay ward, of all
of whom he speaks as having been in the Nova Scotia expedition
of 175«5. Whether there were others or not is not known, as the
rolls of Winslow's troops are not to be found*

After a year of open hostility, England on the 18th of May, And
France on the 9th of June, 1766, at last declared war. The
capture of Crown Point was by no means abandoned, but the
French during the interval had constructed a powerful defence at
Ticondoroga, and this too was included in th6 objects of a new
expedition planned by Shirley, who chose John Winslow for its
leader. Before the campaign commenced Shirley was removed and
the command was first given to General Abercromby, who arrived
in June, and then to the Earl of Loudon, who came in July.

VOL. I. — 17

,^..>r»^^^.<^^^^M,ui.^2l.^^.r. ^ ^r^. --■■^.:v^.....^.... :.. ■.■.-■■, ^-.^^.^ ^.

258 History of Hingham. ^

In the mean time the raising of the new army went on^ The
method was to call for volunteers, but if the requisite number did
not appear a draft was made, by the colonels of the militia regi-
ments, of enough men to supply the deGciency. This will explain
some facts to be hereafter related. A bounty of six dollars was
offered to stimulate enlistments, and the pay of private soldiers
was one pound and six shillings a month. If a man brought a
gun his bounty was increased two dollars. If not, one was sup-
plied, for which he was to account, as well as for powder-horn,
knapsack, canteen, blanket, etc. Subsequently a. coat of blue
cloth) a soldier^s hat, and breeches of red or blue were supplied.
Probably this was the first American force of any considerable
size wearing a uniform, although some regiments had done so'
previously ; it will be noted that the color was the same which
has since become enshrined in the affections of the armies of the
republic who have succeeded these troops. The regiments gen-
erally were composed of ten companies of fifty men each. Besides
their rations each man was promised and insisted ui)on having, a
gill of rum daily. The troops mustered at Albany, and soon
encamped a short distance up the Hudson.

One of the regiments was commanded by Richard Gridley,
afterwards conspicuous for his services at Bunker Hill ; its major
was Samuel Thaxter, who, in accordance with the custom of the
time, was also captain of a company. This latter was from Hing-
ham. There are several rolls in existence at different periods of
its service. The first bears date of May 4, 1756, and contains the
following names of men from this town: —

Samuel Thaxter, major and captain, Robert Tower,

Joseph Blake, lieutenant, Wm. Hodge^

Jeremiah LidcoId, ensign, James Fearing,

Jonathan Smith, Knight Sprague, Jr.,

Caleb Leavitt, Daniel Stoddard,

George McLangblin, Abel Wilder,

£lijah White, Joseph Loring, ""

Joshua Dunbar, George Law,

Israel Gilbert, Joshua French.
Thomas Slander,

A roll of about the same time added the names of
Thomas Gushing, Zebulon Stodder.

Another roll, bearing date Oct. 11, 1756, gives the following
names of Hingham men, in addition to tliose previously mentioned :

Noah Beals, George Lane,

Isaac Gross, John Lincoln.

We also learn from it that Ensign Lincoln was killed or taken ;
an account of his capture and escape is given later ; that John

JlilUarjf HuUnji. 259

Canterbury, Joshua Dunbar, Israel Gilbert, Wm. Holbrook, Oeorge
Randallwining, Thomas Slander, Josiah TouriU, Robert Tower»
and Elijah White were already dead in the service, while Jona-
than Smith, James Fearing, Wm. Hodge, and Wm. Jones were
sick at Albany or elsewhere.

The men might well be sick, if the accounts of regular British
officers of the camps of the New England troops are not exagger-
ated. Licut.-Colonel Burton describes them as dirty beyond de-
scription, especially that at Fort William Henry ; he speaks more
favorably of the camp at Fort Edward, but says that, generally
speaking, there wci-e almost no sanitary arrangements, that
kitchens, graves, and places for slaughtering cattle were all
mixed, that the cannon and stores were in great confusion, the
advance guard was small, and little care taken to provide against
surprise. The several chaplains in the camp present a similar
moral picture of the army. . Meanwhile, on the 14th of August,
Oswego surrendered to the French, and all thoughts of the
capture of Ticonderoga or Crown Point were, for the time,
abandoned. Of the miserable jealousies of the colonies, the dis-
graceful failures of a campaign 'conducted by twelve hundred
thousand people against eighty thousand, and the lessons it teaches
of the superiority in military matters of an army over a mob, of
the trained soldier over the political civilian, only the briefest
mention can be made. The summer and autumn of 1756 fur-
nishes a striking illustration, and perhaps an unusually pointed
one ; for here were men, many of them, used to discipline, and
experienced in more than one war, sacrificed to the lack of
methods, discipline, and leadership, indispensable in the success-
ful conduct of war. The opposite of all this was true in the
French camps, and the results were equally different.

Loudon had ten thousand men posted from Albany to Lake
George. Of these about three thousand provincials were at the
lake under Winslow, with whom was Gridley and his regiment.
Montcalm was at' Ticondcroga with an army of about five thon-
sand regulars and Canadians.

On the 19th September, Captain Hodges, of Gridley's command,
and fifty men were ambushed a few miles from Fort William
Henry by Canadians and Indians, and only six escaped.

Bougainville, aide-de-camp to Montcalm, who was with the
expedition says that out of fifty-three English, all hut one were
taken or killed ; he adds that a mere recital of the cruelties com>
niitted on the battle-field by the Indians made him shudder.
Among the dead was Captain Hodges, and undoubtedly also Israel
Gilbert, Thomas Slander, Elijah White, and Robert Tower;
Ensign Jeremiah Lincoln, then apparently a lieutenant, was, with
others, captured. These men all belonged to Major Thaxtei^a
company.

Mr. Lincoln, In the history of the town, says that a man named
Lathrop, who also belonged here, was killed at the same time.

260 Huiory of Bingham, ^^^^

Lieutenant Lincoln was taken to Quebec, where, after spending the
winter, he made his escape in the night with three othcrsT Two
of tliese became so exhausted that they went to surrender to the
French at Crown Point, while Lincoln and his companion finally
reached Fort Edward after great suffering, during which they
were obliged to subsist upon the bark of trees.

In November the army dispersed, leaving a small garrison at
Lake George. The provincials returned to their homes, while the
English regulars were billeted in different parts of the country;
those at Boston being sent to Castle William.

To the lists already given as serving in the Crown Point army,
there should be added the following ti&en from a note in Mr.
Lincoln's private copy of his history : — «

Ralph Hassell, John Blancher,

James Hay ward, « Jonathan Taunt,

Seth Stowers, Jedediah Newoomh.

Elijah Lewis,

Engaged also in this service was the Hingham sloop ^Sea
Flower," commanded by John Cushing, a brother-in-law of Gen-
eral Lincoln. Here is a copy of a paper at the State House : —

A Portledge Bill of sloop Sea Flower, Jno Cashing master and sailors
iu His Majesty's Service in the Crown Point Expedition

1756
Jno Cashing master Sept 30

Jn* Burr mate
Seth Davis pilot
Samuel Tower sailor
Timothy Covell «
Isaiah Tower ^
Joseph Blake **
To hire of Sloop Sea Flower 74 tons at % per ton a month from Sept
80 1756 to Dec 15

On the back of this is an acknowledgment by Benjamin Lincoln
for Capt. John Cushing of the receipt of 27 */• £.

Captain Cushing married Olive, daughter of Colonel Lincoln,
and resided at South Hingham. John Burr, his mate, at this time
lived on Leavitt street. Samuel and Isaiah Tower were brothers.
Besides all these, Isaac Joy served in Colonel Gridley's own com-
pany, and Robert Townsend, Jr., in Captain Read's company, in
Colonel Clapp's regiment Mr. George Lincoln says that Nchemiah
Joy was also in the service at Lake George.

The next year Loudon with the best of the army sailed from
New York for Halifax, leaving Lake George comparatively un-
guarded, with the hope of taking Louisburg, — an expedition, by
the way, that proved a total failure. Meanwhile Montcalm gath-
ered an army at Ticonderoga, and by the end of July he had

262 History of Hingham. ^

longing to Major Thaxter's company, is as follows; fhe men
were probably on some detail away from the fort: —

Johnson Anderson, Benjamin Joy,

James Cannidy, Stephen Randall,

Joseph Dwelly, Freeman Smith,

James Hay ward, Joshua Bates.

Another account gives the name of Townsend Smith.

To these lists there should be added a list of invalids, whom
Lieutenant Blake reported as belonging to Hingham and able to
march, and who were probably members of Thaxter's company.
The date is June, 1757, and it is not unlikely that these men were
at Fort William Henry and included in the surrender. It would
appear from Knight Sprague's account that a large proportion of
the company were murdered, and this may explain the fact that
little more appears to be known concerning them. They were
as follows : —

George Phillips, Benjamin Sampson,

Moses Bradbory, Reuben Donndls,

James Bunker, Dennis Morrison,

James Brayman, Samuel Winchester.

Major Samuel Thaxter, scarcely less famous than his able
grandfather Col. Samuel Thaxter, was a brave soldier as well as
a prominent and trusted citizen in civil affairs. He was reported
in Hingham as having lost his life in the massacre which followed
the surrender, and a funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Gay.
After the sermon Mr. Caleb Bates was engaged in driving his
cows at Hockley, when whom should he meet but the Major him*
self coming home on horseback. Throwing up both hands in
astonishment, Mr. Bates exclaimed, ^^ Good God, Major, is that
you ? Why, we have just buried you ! '*

Major Thaxter was a quick-tempered and kind-hearted man.
On one occasion he got into considerable trouble by killing some
of his neighbors* dogs, who were worrying deer driven into the
town by a severe storm. He h^d a number of children, among
them Dr. Gridley Thaxter, doubtless named after his old colonel,
who served with credit in the Revolutionary army. The Thaxter
home was on North Street ; and not far from him, after the war,
came to live his old commander, Gen. John Win8low,and his lieu-
tenant, Joseph Blake. General Winslow resided until his death
on Main Street, where is now the house of Mr. John Siders. The
church-bells tolled when his body was removed to Marshfield. Lieu-
tenant Blake lived where the Bassett house is, opposite the Old
Meeting-house on Main Street ; his son Joshua was a lieutenant
in the United States navy. We can imagine that these three old
veterans spent many an hour together in the after years, recalling
the stirring events of the last French and Indian war.

Military Hiitoff.

268

To General VfehVs request for militia to march to the relief of
Fort William, there was immediate response from the oolonies,
and Massachusetts especially wasted no time in getting a large
number of men into the field. We already know the oselessness
of the effort ; indeed, Monro had already capitulated several days
before the troops from eastern New England started ; although
this was of course not known until later. Upon receipt of the
necessary orders. Col. Benjamin Lincoln commanding the third
Suffolk regiment, at once detached from his command the com-
pany in Dingham commanded by Ebenezer Beal, and started it
on the march the 15th of August. The roll of Hingham men in
the company was as follows : —

Ebenezer Beal, Capt,
Daniel Lincoln, Lieul,
Benjamin Gushing, Ensign,

u
a

Joseph Stowers, Sergt,
John Fearing,
John Blancher,
Obadiah Lincoln, ^^
David Farrow, Corp.,
John Keen, "

Elisha Tower, Jr., "
Abijah Whiten, Drum.,
Peter Lincoln, Private,
Obadiah Stowell, "
Joshua Remington,
Matthew Lincoln,
Ezra French,
Philip Nye,
David Waterman,
Ephraim Marsh,
William Murch,
Isaac Gross,
Consider Jones,
Jotham Loriug,
Isaac Burr,
Ignatius Orcutt,
Nath" Lincoln,
Isaac Lincoln, Jun.,

Nath° Stodder^
Daniel Tower^
Solo: Dunbar,.
Sam' Dunbar,
David Wilder,
Zach Lorinff,
Sam' Gill, Jun.,
Joseph Spragae,
Asa Burr,
John Wilent,
John Wheelwright,
John Pratt,
Calvin Gushing,
Price Pritchart,
Jacob Beal,
Frederick Bate,
Job Tower,
Simeon Bate,
Hosca Orcutt,
Benjamin Beal,
Japhet Hobart,
Elisha Lincoln.
Micah Nichols,
Nehemiah Joy,

There was also a company containing a number of Hingham
men, under the command of Capt. El)enezer Thayer of Braintree,
in Colonel Lincoln's regiment, which marched at theT same time.
Their names were : —

Stephen Cushing, Lieut.,

David Gushing, Cornet,
Noah Nichols, Corporal, Joseph Gushing, Private,

Benjamin Thaxter« ^* Thomas Barker, ^

264 History qf Bingham.

David Lincoln, Privatey liOt Lincoln, PiiTate,

Thomas Lethrop, ^ Joseph Loring, ** ^

John Burr, " Caleb Joy, ««

Uriah Oakes, *^ Obadlah Beal« ^

Benjamin Garnet^ ^

It will be recalled that soon after the termination of the war
with Philip, permission was granted to Gapt. Joshua Hobart,
and others, to form a small troop of horse in Bingham, Wey-
mouth, and Hull, and that Jolm Thaxter became its first com-
mander. With the foot companies of Hingham and other towns
in the vicinity, this troop was attached in 1680 to a new regiment
under Major Wm. Stoughton. It would seem that subsequently
the troop came to be composed almost entirely of men belonging
to Hingham and Braintree, and that was still the fact when,
August 12th, 1757, it marched to the relief of the fort, which
had already surrendered. By the above roll it will be seen that
a majority of its officers were from the former place. Its service
ended the 23d of the same month.

In July, 1757, Pitt, who shortly before had been dismissed from
office, became the controlling force in foreign affairs and in the
department of war. With him there came a new light to Eng-
land and the colonies ; the tide of defeat and disaster was checked,
hope was reawakened, and a vigor and wisdom instilled into the
conduct of public affairs, which eventually led to the triumph of
the British arms and the conquest of Ganada.

Early in June, 1758, Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst,
with eighteen frigates and fire-ships, twenty-three ships of the
line and a fleet of transports, on board of which were eleven
thousand six hundred soldiers, all regulars except five hundred
provincial rangers, appeared before Louisbourg. Amherst's briga-
diers were Whitmore, Lawrence, and Wolfe. July 27th the fort
surrendered after a determined resistance, and over five thousand
men became prisoners in the hands of the English. In the isiege
Jotham Gay, who commanded a company from Hingham shortly
after and perhaps at this time also, is said to have participated.

Among the Massachusetts re<rimcnts raised for the prosecution
of the war was one commanded by Col. Joseph Williams. It was
recruited early in 1758, and contained a company of Hingham
men, commanded by Capt. Edward Ward, who had already served
at the capture of Louisbourg in 1745. The roll of this com-
pany was as follows : —

Edward Ward, Captain,
Isaac Smith, Sergt, Nath° Bates, Private,

Lett Lincoln, Corp., Joseph Beal, . u

James Howard, ^ Mordica Bates, ^

James Lincoln, ^ Joseph Battles, Jr., **

m^iiiii I iiin

ki^fittlMteilMliiBtaitaMI

266 Histarjf qf Hingham. ^

the point of abandoning the expedition. Colonel Bradstreet, how«
ever, opened the way for the army and it reluctantly follow^ his
lead In the mean time Montcalm, on the aeventh, threw up a
wonderfully sti'ong defence, and here with tliirty-six hundred men
he awaited the English. At one o'clock on the eighth the attack
commenced. At half-past seven the French general had won his
great victory, and the British army, after losing two thousand men,
was in full retreat, covered by the provincials. In this disastrous
attempt Captain Ward's company probably participated, as Colonel
Lincoln mentions a number of men as engaged at Lake George
whose names occur on the. above roll. He speaks also of William
Russ as a soldier of his regiment on tlie same service.

After the defeat Abercromby reoccupied and refortified the ,
camp which he had left but a few days previously. Colonel Brad-
street obtained, after much persuasion, thi-ee tliousand men, mostly
provincials, and with these and a small number of Oneidas he
embarked, August the twenty-second, in his fleet of whaleboats
and pushed out onto Lake Ontario. His destination was Fort
Frontenac, and as Thomas Burr, who was in this expedition, says
in his diary, the troops came in sight of the French works on the
twenty-fifth, and landed about dusk, and to quote the diary,
'^ pitched against the foii; '' on the twenty-sixth. The next day
the garrison surrendered, together with nine armed vessels and a
large amount of stores and ammunition.

Forming a part of Colonel Bradstreet's command, and partici-
pating in his triumph was Captain Ward's company of Hingham
men, — if indeed, the whole of Colonel Williams' regiment was not
in the expedition. Subsequently many of them were at the Great
Carrying Place. This latter was the name of a post upon tlie
Mohawk, then being foi*tified by General Stanwix, with whom
Bradstrcet left a thousand men on his return from his victory.
Among them were Beza Cushing, Noah Humphrey, John Neal,
Isaac Gross, Isaac Smith, James Hayward, David Tower, Jonsr
than Farrow, Townsend Smrth, Joseph Carrel, Robert Dunbar,
Solo. Whiten, William Garnett, and lliomas Lothrop. Not pre-
viously named, but at Frontenac, in addition to othera, were Ralph
Hassell, and John Sprague ; they would seem to have enlisted in
other companies in Colonel Williams' regiment.

May 4, 1759, Gov. Thomas Fownall sailed from Boston with
a regiment commanded by himself, and constructed a fort
upon the Penobscot Among Colonel FownalFs captains was
Jotham Gay, with a company from Hingham. Captain 6ay*s-
company seems however to have been sent to Halifax somewhat
earlier, and a return sworn to by him indicates that it formed
part of the garrison of that post from March until November of
that year. Capt. Jotham Gay was born in Hingham, April 11,
1733, and as already seen, was in the king's service from 1755
until near the close of the last French war. Subsequently he was
a colonel in the Continental army, and a representative from

MUiiarjf Hiiiarf. 267

Hingham id 1799 and 1800. His brother Calvin died at Qoebee
in 1765. They were sons of the Rev. Ebenezer Omy, who was
minister of the Old Church in Hingham for sixty-nine years.
RcT. JoIiD Brown, of tliat part of Hingham which is now Cohasseti
was a chaplain in the army in 1759, and was stationed at Halifax*
He was a friend of Dr. Gay, who corresponded with him, and ia
a characteristic letter, dated June 25, 1759, he writes to Ur.
Brown, *^ I wish you may visit Jotham (captain) and minister
good instruction to him and company, and furnish him with sui^
able sermons in print, or in your own very legible, if not very in-
telligible manuscripts, to read to his men, who are without a
preacher ; in the room of one, constitute Jotham curate.** Colonel
Gay died October 16, 1802. The following is the list of the
Hingham men in the company commanded by him in 1759: —

Jotham Gay, Capt,

George Lane, jLieat.9

Tliomas Lothrop^ ^

Isaac Smith, Sergt, Caleb Leavitt, Private.

Nathaniel Bangs, *^ Levi Lewis, ^

Samuel Joy, Corp., Elijah Lewis, ^

Joseph Blake, Private, Urbane Lewis, ^

Benjamin Beal, ^^ . Israel Lincoln, ^

Issachar Bate, ^ John Lasell, ^

Isaac Burr, ^ Joseph Lovis, ^

Beza Gushing, ^ Ephraim Marsh, ^

Calvin Gushing, ^^ Micah Nichols, **

Jacob Dunbar, ^ John Neal, ^

Jonathan Farrow, ** Charles Ripley, **

Isaac Groce, ^* William Rust, ^

Noah Humphrey, ^ Luther Stephenson, ^

John Hobart, ^ Jusitanus Stephenson,^

Gedion Howard, ^ Jerome Stephenson, **

Micah Humphrey, " John Sprague, ^

Ralph Haswell, ^ Knight Sprague, ^

James Ha ward, ** Daniel Stoddard, ^

Joseph Jones, ** Daniel Tower, •*

John Lincoln, " Seth Wilder, ^

There is also a roll in the State archives giving the names of
the following, and headed ^*A return of men Enlisted for hi
Majesty's Service for the Total Reduction of Canada, 1760 : * —

John Stowel, John Nash,

Nath* Joy, Job Mansfield,

Japhet Hobard, Levi Lincoln,

Enoch Stoddard, Abijah Hersey,

Joseph Sprague, Daniel Lincoln,

Samuel Burr, Joseph Beal,

Asa Burr, Joshua Remington,

ini« ■■

268 History qf Hingham.

Zacheus Barber, John Garnet,

William Lincoln^ Stephen Frances, ^

Richard Stodard, Seth Duubar.
Benj" Stowel,

Of the particular service of these men there appears to be no
record. The following from the papers belonging to the Corn*
monwealth indicates, however, that a number of them were with
the army in New York : —

*^ Money owed John Faye, for money paid by him to mvalids
returning from Albany, &c., &c., 1760 :

Benj. Stowell, Hingham, in Col. Tliomas* i^^gt, Capt Bradford ;

Richard Stoddard^ "**"** a ** u »»

There is a curious and interesting record in Vol. 98, page 861,
of the rolls at the State House in connection with the invalids at
Albany, which seems to have escaped notice elsewhere. It is an
account of a payment ^^to Col. Ranslow for his Battalion of
Negroes to carry Smi^U Fox people to Albany/'

Wolfe had climbed the Heights of Abraham, gained the crown
of unperishing fame, and laid down his life in the moment of
victory, while Montcalm, his dying thoughts for Canada, slept the
soldier's last sleep in the Convent of the Ursulines. September
the 18th Quebec surrendered. The following spring L^vis made
a bold attempt to recapture it, but abandoned the attempt upon
the arrival of an English fleet On tlie fifteenth of July, 1760,
Murray, with twenty-four hundred and fifty men, left Quebec and
marched toward Montreal ; he was subsequently reinforced by
seventeen hundred more under Lord RoUo.

In the mean time General Haviland left Crown Point with an
army of thirty-four hundred regulars, provincials, and Indians,
while Amherst with ten thousand men embarked from Oswego on
the tenth of August, followed by seven hundred Indians under Sir
William Johnson. On the sixth of September the three armies
encamped before Montreal. With Amherst and Haviland doubt-
less would have been found Hingham's recruits enlisted ^^ for the
total reduction of Canada." September the eighth the remnants
of the French army, consisting of about twenty-four hundred men,
surrendered to General Amherst, who was about to open fire upon
Montreal, besieged as it was by his force of seventeen thousand.

If with the death of Montcalm and the surrender of Quebec,
France in the New World died, so at Montreal was buried all hope
of her resurrection, unless, indeed, through the medium of diplo-
macy when peace should at last be declared. Even that hope was
destined never to be realized, for with the signing of the articles
at Paris in 1763 French dominion in North America became only
a matter of history. However, during the many months and
even years that intervened, the sea coasts had to be guarded,
and the various military posts garrisoned. Probably engaged in

Military Eiitarg. 269

this or similar service, we find Hingbam men sernng as
follows : —

Under Capt. Samuel Bent, from June to December, 1761 : ^»

Ralph Hassell, John NeaU

Elijah Lewis, David Stoddard.

Levi Lewis,
Under Capt Epiiraim Holmes, March to November, 1762: —

Jeremiah Chubbuck.
Under Capt. William Barrows, November, 1762, to July, 1768 : —

Nathan Lewis, Arthur Cain.

Under Capt. Johnson Moulton, 1762 and 1768: —

Jeremiah Chubbuck, Lieut, Levi Lewis,

Elijah Lewis, Sergt, John Neal.

Impossible as it is to give an absolutely correct list of our
townsmen who ^^ went out against the French " during these lonff
years of warfare, there are nevertheless preserved and here placed
on the rolls of the brave, the names of some two hundred and
twenty-four diiTerent individuals who fought under the king's
colors and shared in the glory of the final triumplu

Moreover, at least fifty of these re-enlisted, fifteen served three
times, four four times, and one man seems to have been a recmit
on five different occasions^ so that there must be credited as serv-
ing in Ilingliam's quota, during some part of Uie period,, about
three hundred and twenty soldiers. Among these were more than
a dozen onTicers, of whom the most celebrated was Major Thaxter.

In glancing at these old company rolls we notice the frequent
recurrence of certain family names having a large representa-
tion amon^ tlie present inhabitants, while others, then borne by a
considerable number of persons, have entirely disappeared from the
town. Of the former, the Lincolns, with seventeen names on the
lists, easily lead, while the Cushings and Dunbars each furnish
nine, the Burrs six, tlie Beals the same number, the Stoddards
five, and the Towers four. On the other hand the Garnets, of
whom five enlisted, have ceased to exist by that name, although
under the not very diiTerent form of Gardner, there are still rep-
resentatives here, while the Gays, Joys, Gilberts, Gills, and others,
including the once numerous Stcphensons, have few or none to
))reserve their names and families.

From the close of the French wars to the opening of the Revo-
lution, we know little about the local military. Colonel Lincoln
continued to command the regiment down to about the close of
the war, but under date of January 21, 1762, a list of the com-
missioned officers names Josiah Quincy as colonel, John Thaxter
of Ilingham as lieut.-coloncl and captain of the first Hingham
company, and Theophilus Gushing, also of this town, as major and
captain of the second Hingham company. The other officers be-
longing here were Joseph Thaxter, — afterwards captain, — and
€aleb Bates, lieutenants, in Lieut.-Colonel Thaxter^s company, and

■ ■ ■■ ii i i i ii i ii i ii M i ij i j^ '^■■■^■*''^ ■■>•' ■'■'-■'- "firT M I — '■— — — ^-^.w^— ■-.-

270 History of Hingham.

Samuel Hobart his ensign ; Capt. Pyam Gushing, who succeeded
Major Gushing in the command of the company, and his lieuten-
ant, Robert Garnet, and ensign John Jacob; Daniel Lincoki,
captain of the third company, with Isaac Lincoln, lieutenant, and
David Tower, Jr., ensign. The fourth Hingham company was
commanded by Thomas Jones, and his lieutenant was Benjamin
Thaxter, with Ebenezer Beale, Jr., for his ensign. The troop of
horse which still existed was officered by David Gushing, captain,
Benjamin Hayden, lieutenant, Jonathan Bass, cornet, and Joseph
Gushing, quartermaster. Soon after, James Humphrey became
first major, and Benjamin Lincoln, Jr., second major of the
regiment

In 1771 this old command, formed in the early days of the ,
colony, and so long known as the Third Suffolk, had become the
second regiment, with John Thaxter, colonel, and Benjamin Lin-
coln, lieutenant-colonel. The companies from Hingham were
officered as follows : Ist company, James Lincoln, captain ; Elijah
Lincoln, lieutenant; 2d company, Enoch Whiton, Jr., captain;
Theophilus Wilder, Jr., lieutenant ; 8d company, Isaiah Gushing,
captain ; Peter Gushing, lieutenant ; John Burr, ensign.

There was also a train of artillery attached to this regiment,
which evidently belonged here, as all its officers were from Hing*
ham. They were as follows : Francis Barker, Jr., captain ; Sam-
uel Thaxter, 1st lieutenant; Jotham Loring, 2d lieutenant; aiid
Levi Lincoln, lieutenant-fireworker.

Licut.-Golonel Lincoln was in command of the regiment at the
opening of the Revolution, and the muster rolls of the day style
it ^^ Gol. Lincoln's,'* although there is some uncertainty about his
being so commissioned.

In the stirring and exciting events preceding and leading up to
the war between the colonies and Great Britain, Hingham was an
active participant. With that of so many other towns, her history
contributes to the familiar narrative of the great part taken by
Massachusetts in the resistance to tyrannical and oppressive
acts of parliament and king. The names of Hancock, (His, and
Lincoln have for her more even than the interest elsewhere
surrounding them, for to the families bearing them she feels the
affection and pride belonging to the children of the household.
John Hancock, Major-General, President of Gongress, and Gover-
nor of Massachusetts, was the son of Mary Hawke of Hingham,
who first married Samuel Thaxter, Jr., and then John Hancock, of "
Braintree ; while John Otis, the ancestor of the patriot, was one
of the earliest settlers of the town and the possessor of large tracts
of land here, and his descendants resided in Hingham for genera-
tions. Mary Otis, daughter of James the patriot, married the
son of General Lincoln, while other members of the family were
connected by marriage with the Tliaxters, Gays, Lincolns, and
Herseys. The Lincolns fill the pages of local and common-

Hidorp. 271

historj with the story of their aeirices in the field, the
town, the halls of legislation, and the council chamber, from
the earliest days to the present time. Durinff the French war
we iiave seen Benjamin Lincoln, as colonel of his regiment, the
historical Third Suffolk, to which the companies in Hingham had
almost from the settlement of the town been attached, taking an
active part. He was also for seventeen years a member ot * *
Majesty's Council, but resigned in 1770, at the time when it
fast IxH^raing impossible for patriotic Americans to hold longer the
king*8 commissions. Colonel Lincoln died March 1, 1771, leaving,
among others, the son Itcnjamin who so worthily filled the place
he long occupied in public estimation and usefulness. The affec-
tion which is felt for the great President Abraham Lincoln, also
a descendant of a Hingham family, has given a national fame to
the name in later years.

As early as September 21, 1768, the town, in response to a dr-
cular from Boston, ^^ chose Joshua Hearsey a committee to join
the committees from the several towns within the province to
assemble at Boston on the 22d of September, current, then and
there to consult such measures as shall be necessary for the pres-
ervation of good order and regularity in the province at this criti-
cal conjuncture of affairs." His instructions were as follows:
^ We advise and direct you that you use your endeavors to pre-
serve peace and good order in the province and loyalty to the king;
that you take every legal and constitutional method for the pres-
ervation of our rights and liberties, and for having redressed tiiese
grievances we so generally complain of and so sensibly feel ; tliat
all possible care be taken that the troops that should arrive have
provision made for them, so that they be not billeted in private
families, and at so convenient a distance as not to interrupt the
people ; that you encourage the inhabitants to keep up military
duty, whereby they may be in a capacity to defend themselves
against foreign enemies; and in case you are exposed to anr
charges in prosecuting any of the foregoing preparations, we will
repay it, and as these instructions are for your private use, im-
prove them for that purpose and for no other whatever.'' The
instructions were drawn up by Ezekiel Hearsey, Benjamin Lin-
coln, Jr., and Capt Daniel Lincoln.

In response to the circular, delegates from sixty-six towns, the
number of whom afterwards increased to ninety-eight, met on the
day appointed, and continued in session from day to day uhtil
the 29th, during which they adopted a letter to be transmitted to
the agent of the province in London, and also voted to publish a
result of their conference, in which, while declaring their alle-
giance to the king, they also declared their rights under the char-
ter. March 5, 1770, occurred the event known in American
history as the ^^ Boston Massacre." Without discussing the
events which led up to the riot and bloodshed in King Street on

f I

^^-a.f* *- A.

m^ii^m^^ m- ^ ■— '- -rr^rJ JMIaiiuLiJi in f— ^-^-^— '■""'*— ■*'^***^-^-^"'^'* ' •■■ ■

272 • History of Hingham.

that memorable occasion, the fact of Hingham's sympathy with
the people as against tlie soldiers is perfectly evident from resolu-
tions passed at the annual meeting of that year. Tliey are not to
be found in the town records, but are contained in the following
letter from General Lincoln, then town clerk, to the committee of
merchants : —

HiXGBAM, March 24tb, 1770.
To the Gentlemen the CommiiUe of Merchante in Boston:

' Gentlemen, — At the annoal meeting of the town of Hingham, on the
19th day of March, a.d. 1770: Upon a motion being made and seconded
(though omitted in the warrant), the inhabitants, taking into consideraUon
the distressed circumstances of the people in this and the neighboring
Provinces, occasioned by the late parliamentary acts for raising a revenue
in North America, the manner of collecting the same, and the measures
gone into to enforce obedience to them, and judging that every society and
every individual person are loudly called to exert the utmost of their
ability in a constitutional way to procure a redress of those grievances,
and to secure the privileges by charter conveyed to them, and that free*
dom which they have a right to as men and English subjects, came to the
following votes : —

Vottd^ That we highly approve of the patriotic resolutions of the mer-
chants of this province not to import goods from Great Britain till the re-
peal of the aforesaid acts ; and viewing it as having a tendency to retrieve
ns from those burdens so much complained of, and so sensibly felt by ut,
we will do all in our power in a le^al way to support them in carrying
into execution so worthy an undertaking.

Voledf That those few who have imported goods contrary to general
agreement, and counteracted the prudent and laudable efforts of the mer*
chants and traders aforesaid, have thereby forfeited tlie confidence of their
brethren ; and therefore, we declare that we will not directly or indirectly
have any commerce or dealings with them.

Vf^td^ That we will discourage the use of foreign superfluities among
us, and encourage oar own manufactures.

Votedj That we heartily sympathize with oar brethren of the town of
Boston, in the late unhappy destruction of so many of tlieir inhabitants,
and we rejoice with them that there yet remains the free exercise of the
civil authority.

Voted^ That the town clerk be ordered to transmit a copy hereof to the
committee of merchants in Boston.

I cheerfully comply with the above order and herewith send you a copy
of the Votes. I am, gentlemen, with great esteem, your most obedient
and most humble servant,

Benjamin Lincoln, Jc7N*r.

At a meeting held January 11, 1773, a committee consisting of
Bcla Lincoln, Benjamin Lincoln, Joseph Thaxter, Jacob Gushing,
and Joshua Hearsey, was appointed to draft instructions to John
Thaxter, the town's representative. This was done on the 13th in
a communication urging him to use his best endeavors for the re-
dress of the grievances under which the province was suffering.

Military Hittarg. 278

At three o'clock in the afternoon of December 16, ITTS,
young Josiah Quincy finished his great speech to the people in
the Old South Mcetiug-Iiouse, and Uie people reaffirmed the vote
of November 29, that the tea in the snips in Boston harbor
should not be landed. Towards twilight, Mr. Roch, the owner of
one of the vessels, returned from an interview with the Governor^
who was at Milton, with a refusal to permit the ship to leave the
harbor. A warwhoop rang from the gallery of the Old South ;
it was taken up from the outside. The meeting adjourned in
great confusion and the populace flocked toward Griffin's wharf,
near the present Liverpool wharf. Here were moored the ** Dart-
mouth,'* Captain Hall ; the ** Eleanor," Captain Bruce ; and the
*^ Beaver," Captain Coffin. Led by some twenty persons dis-
guised as Mohawk Indians, a party numbering some hundred and
forty boarded the vessels, and in two hours three hundred and fori^-
two chests of tea were emptied into the harbor. Among the bold
actors of that night were Amos Lincoln, then twenty years of age,
afterwards a captain in the Revolutionary Army, and a brother
of Licut.-6ov. Levi Lincoln; Jared Joy, twenty*four years old,
also a Revolutionary soldier later ; Abraham Tower, just twenty,
subsequently a soldier in Capt. Job Cushing^s company; and
Samuel Sprague of the same age, afterwards the father of Charles
Sprague the poet •

These young men all belonged in Hingham, and their partici-
pation was quite likely the result of an agreement among them
to be in Boston until the question of the landing of the tea should
be settled. It is significant that at least three of them should
have become soldiers in the war for independence which so soon
followed.

The action of this IGth of December was followed by more
papers and letters from the Boston Committee of Correspond-
ence. To these the town responded at the annual meeting by
resolutions declaring, —

''First, Tliat the disposal of their property is the inherent right of
freemen, that there is no property in that which another can of right take
from us without our consent ; that the claim of Parliament to tax America
is, in other words, a claim of righ*l to lay contributions on ns at pleasure.

*' Secondly, That the duty imposed by Parliament upon tea landed in
America is a tax on the Americans or levying contributions on them
without their consent

'* Thirdly, That the express purpose for which the tax is levied on the
A m«f ricans, namely, for the support of government and administration of
j(i>tice, and the defence of his Majesty's dominions in America, has a
direct tendency to render assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary
government and slavery.

^' Fourthly, That a virtuous and steady opposition to the ministerial
plan of governing America is necessary, to preserve even a shadow of
liberty ; and it is a duty which every freeman in America owes to his
country, to himself* and to his posterity.

TOL. I. — IS

« I

274 Siitary of Bingham. ^^

^ Fifthly, That the resolution lately come into by the East India Com-
pany, to send oat their teas to America subject to the payment ofduUes
on its being landed here, is an open attempt to enforce the ministerial
plan, and a violent attack on the liberties of America.

*' Sixthly, That it is the duty of every American to oppose this
attempt

** Seventhly, That it affords the greatest satisfaction to the inhabitants
of this town to find that his Majesty's subjects in the American colonies,
and of this province in particular, are so Uioroughly awakened to a sense
o( their danger, arising from encroachments made on their constitn-
tional rights and liberties, and that so firm a onion b established among
them ; and that they will ever be ready to join their fellow subjects
in all laudable measures for the redress of the many grievances we
labor under."

August 17, 1774, the town adopted the following agreement
as reported by a committee: —

^^ We the subscribers, taking into our serious consideration the present
distressed state of America, and in particular of this devoted province,
occasioned by several late unconstitutional acts of the British Parliament
for taxing Americans without their consent — blocking up the port of
Boston — vacating our charter, that solemn compact Mtween the king
and the people, respecting certain laws of this province, heretofore enacted
by our general court and confirmed by his majesty and his predecessors,
we feel ourselves bound, as we regard our inestimable constitution, and
the duty we owe to succeeding generations, to exert ourselves in this
peaceable way, to recover our lost and preserve our remaining privileges,
yet not without grief for the distresses that may hereby be brought upon
our brethren in Great Britain. We solemnly covenant and engage to and . •
with each other, viz. : 1st, That we will not import, purchase, or consume,
nor suffer any person or persons to, by, for or under us to import, pur-
chase, or consume in any manner whatever, any goods, wares, or mer-
chandise which shall arrive in America, from Great Britain, from and
after the first day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-
four, until our charter and constitutional rights shall be restored ; or untQ
it shall be determined by the major part of our brethren in this and the
neighboring colonies, that a new importaUon, or a new consumption
agreement will not effect the desired end ; or until it shall be apparent
that a new importation or new consumption agreement will not be entered
into by this and the neighboring colonies, except drugs and medicines and
such articles, and such only, as will be absolutely necessary in carrying on
our own manufactures.

'' 2dly, That in order to prevent, as far as in us lies, any inconveniences
that may arise from the disuse of foreign commodities, we agree that we
will take the most prudent care for the raising and preserving sheep, flax,
SeCf for the manufacturing all such woollen and linen cloths as shall be
most useful and necessary ; and that we will give all possible support and
encouragement to the mauufactures of America in generaL**

In September Colonel Lincoln was chosen to attend a Provin-
cial Congress at Concord, and in October the town ^ recommended

276 HUtory of Hingham. ^

sires desirous of finding some record of their ancestors, or seek-
ing for a glimpse or perhaps a tracing of an autograph of ITamiljr
or national celebrity. Well may this quiet apartment be the
mecca for hundreds and thousands of those to whom the story of
their country's settlement and early days comes like a fresh
breeze of earnestness and purpose, of faith and devotion and
bravery. Here such come from the East and the far West alike,
and feel as one must, whether at Lexington or Bunker Hill or
Plymouth, as though on sacred ground. For here the whole
atmosphere seems to breathe of the past; the Archives of the
Colony, the Province, and the Commonwealth ; quaint and loved
names of the Puritans and the Pilgrims, and quainter records of
their doings and trials and expeditions ; votes of the deputies,
orders of the magistrates, proclamations of the Royal Governors,
queer old yellow and stained papers written in character so pecu-
liar as to require a special knowledge to decipher them ; copies or
originals of the famous Hutchinson papers; correspondence with
the French authorities in Canada or the Pilgrim governor in
Plymouth ; a treaty w^th some famous Indian sachem ; an account
of a pirate ship, or an order for the hanging of its lawless chief ;
a report of Captain Church, or a rumor of Myles Standish ; laws
for the regulation of religion, the promotion of education, the
encouragement of commerce ; letters of Winthrop, of Dudley, of
Harry vane ; appointments to the command and grants of men
and money for the attempts against Nova Scotia and Louisburg
and Canada; victories and feastings and fastines; the story of
Acadia and the wanderers, crudely and disjointcdly told in various
papers; more letters and signatures, but now of Washington
and Franklin, of Knox and Hancock and Adams and Lincoln and
Warren ; committees of safety and their doings ; conflicts with Brit-
ish sailors and officials and soldiers ; preparations for the Revolu-
tion and commissions for its officers, — all these and many more are
to be found here, with papers whose contents are hardly yet known,
and affording doubtless rich stores of original research and infor-
mation for the historian. Here too are great, unwieldy volumes
filled with the muster rolls of the officers and men wiio ser^-ed
their king against the French in the North, the Spaniard in the
Main, the Indian in the forest; who fought too, when the time
came, the king and his redcoats from Boston to Yorktown, and
his Hessian allies at Stillwater and Trenton and Princeton. We
may read — sometimes in a hand, and oftentimes in a spelling,
that almost silences criticism — the signatures of our grandfathers
or great-grandfathers to receipts of money or supplies ; and we may
proudly follow the record of their devoted services through year
after year of warfare and privation in their struggle for freedom
and nationality. Among the bound papers we should find a sur-
prising number, filling indeed three large books, numbered 11, 12,
13, known as the ^* Lexington Alarm Rolls.'' These contain

MilUary Hiitofff.

not alone the names of the brave men of Lexington and Concord
and Acton and the other towns whose sous were actually enraged
and some of whom laid down their lives in the first barae of
the Revolution, but also those of the equally brave from remoter
places who hastened toward the field of conflict at tlie first note
of alarm, and who rightly share in the honor and glory of the Tic>
tory of that 19th of April and the service that immediately fol-
lowed. The rolls of these companies are very numerous, there
being in fact several hundred of them, of which four tell the story
of what Hingliam did in the dawning of the eight years' conflict.
Of these troops, there appear to have been three footcompanies,
or what would now be termed infantrv, and one — that com-
manded by Captain Loring — artillery, then termed the '* Train.'*
Probably all were attached to Colonel Lincoln's command*

Omitting the details of exi)cn8e, pay, and some other items of
little or no interest, an exact copy of the rolls of these companies
is here given : —

A true return of the travel and time of Service of the men under
my Command in Col. Benj. Lincoln's Regiment Assembled the
19ih April, 1776: —

Isaiah Gushing, Capt.
Jacob Leavitt, Lieut.
Charles Cushiug, Lieut.
Jacob Cushing, Jr.y Serj.,
Isaac Sprague, Jr., ^
Shubael Fearing,
Thos. Jones, Jr.,
Amos Sprague, Corp.,
David Burr, **

John Blossom, *'
John Burr, Jr., **
Levi Burr, Drum,
Peter Hersey, **
John Lincoln,
Seth Briggs,
Sam Leavitt,
David Sprague,

Joshua Loring,
Othniel Stodder,
David Wilder,
Caleb Brimhall,
Thomas Bnrr«
Sam Burr,
Benj. Sprague, Jr^
Sam Lazell,

Fearing,
Thomas King,
Jos. Leavitt,
Benj. Barnes, Jr^
Benj. Gushing, Jr.
Jared Lane,
Jacob Thaxter,
Abner Loring.

Isaiah Cdshino.

On the back is the following : —

Suffolk ss.

Decem. 11, 1775. Then Capt. Isaiah Cusliing Subscriber to
this Roll personally made oath to the truth of it.

Col. Bekj. Lincoln, Jus. peace.

Examined and compared with the original.

Edw* Rawson ) rt

Jonas Dix 1 ^™-

mmmmmm

mmmm

278

History of Hingham.

In Council, Apr 16th, 1776, read & allowed & ordered that
a warrant be drawn on the Treasury fur 11. 2. 8. in full of this
rolL John Lowell Dpj Sec'^ S. T.

The other rolls have similar indorsements.

It appears also from details not here given in full, that this
company was in. service three days at this time, and travelled
thirty-six miles.

A true return of the travel and time of Service of those men
under my command in Col. Benj. Lincoln's Regiment assembled

u
u

Corp.

tt
a

the 19th of April, ▲. D. 1776.

James Lincoln, Capt\
Isaac Lincoln, 1st Lieut.,
Nath Lincoln, 2d ^
Joseph BeaU Sergt,
Knight Sprague,
Heman Lincoln,
Noah Hersey,
Elijah Beal,
Tho. Marsh, Jr.,
Isaiah Lincoln,
Bradford Horsey,
Zadock Hersey, Drum,
Reub Hersey, Fife,
Jas Lincoln, Jr., ^
Tho. Waterman, Jr.,
Tho. Marsli,
Jacob Beal,
Zerub Hersey,
Abijah Hersey,
Tho' Stoddard,
Jacob Stoddard,
Barn^ Lincoln,
Josh Stowell,

James Lincoln.

-r4

Jere Hersey, Jr.,
Gilb Hersev,
Step Lincoui,
Bela Stowell,
David Beal, Jr.,
Jesse Dunbiar,
Jona

-Benj Beal,
Jon' Lincoln,
Royall Lincohif
Jesset Bates,
Joseph Blake,
John Hobart,
Isaiah Hersey,
Nathan Stodder,
Japhet Hobart,
John Souther,
John Beal,
Levi Lincoln,
Jere Lincoln,
Sam Todd,
Nat Fearing.

Hingham, Dec. 5, 1775.
to the foregoing list.

Then Capt James Lincoln made oath
Before me Benj. Cushing, Js. peace.

This company was in service thirteen days and travelled thirty-
six mUes *^ from and to home."

A true return of the travel and time of Service of the men
under my Command in Col* Benj* Lincolns Regt Assembled 19
April, 1776: —

Enoch Whiton, Capt,
Theop. Wilder, Lieut,

Josiah Lane, 2 Lieut,
Elias Whiton, Serg.,

280 History of Singham.

This was endorsed : Capt Jotliam Lorings Billeting Roll

at Hiugham in 17 75.
X18. 10. 8

These men also were in service thirteen days.

Four companies, numbering in all one hundred and fiftv^four
men, marched from the old town on that bright April morning
'when the grass was already long enough to be waving in the soft
spring breeze and the cherries were white in the glory of their
blossoms. The occasion and the scene were never to be pre-
cisely re-enacted. On the night of the 18th Revere and Dawes
had left Boston, and commenced their famous ride, alarming the '
inhabitants to the north of that town. Messengers were sent to
the surrounding country, and the response was so prompt that in
the records of the killed and wounded on the 19th, names appear
of persons from no less than twenty-three places.

We seem to hear again the rush and clatter of the hurrying
horseman through Weymouth and into our own streets, and the
startling cry "To arms!'* "To arms!" We seem to see our
forefathers as they gather on the company training-fields at
South Hingham, the Lower Plain, and Broad Bridge, while Levi
Burr, Peter Hearsey, Reuben Sprague, and Zadoc Hcrsey wake the
sleepers with the continual roll of tlicir drums, and the cheerful
notes of the fifes in the hands of Ezra Garnett and Reuben Hor-
sey sound the reveille of the period. But this is no holiday
parade these men are engaged in, and there is little of the pageantry
of war in the gathering of these earnest, sober country farmers
and mechanics and sailors. The call has not been entirely unex-
pected, however, and tlie companies move out for their long march
with full ranks, their bright silk colors gleaming red in the sun-
light, and the veterans of the Canada campaigns at their head.
We do not forget, as we watch them leading their men, — Captain
Loring with his artillery lumbering along the uneven roads, or
Captain Lincoln with his large company of down-town foot, — that
their names became familiar long ago on the rolls of those who,
under Samuel Thaxter or Edward Ward or Ebenezer Beal or
Joseph Blake, bravely fought in his Majesty's service ; and the
sight of Seth Stowers recalls the sad scenes around Fort William
Henry on the bloody morning of the terrible August day in 1757.
When these men, and many another now again in the ranks,
marched out of Hingham ten years earlier, the commander of the
regiment to which they lielongcd was Benjamin Lincoln; now
too, their colonel's name is Benjamin Lincoln ; he is the son of
their old commander, and is destined to become for all time
Hingham's most famous citizen.

Too remote from the field of battle to have made active par-
ticipation in the conflict possible to her organized military.

MUUary Hiitarf. ' 281

Hingham still has, by a fortunate circumstance, the proud dis-
tinction of being among the towns represented on that memorable
day. Joseph Thaxter, a great-grandson of Col. Samuel Thaxter,
and a graduate of Harvai^ College, was preaching as a candidate
for the ministry at Westford, when he heard of the approach of
the British troops towai-ds Lexington. Hastening to Concord ou
horseback, armed with a brace of pistols, he was among those who
received the enemy's fire at Concord Bridge. He was subsequenUj
appointed a chaplain in the army, and was attached to Colonel
Prcscott*s regiment at the time of the battle at Breed's Hill,
which is known in history as the battle of Bunker Hill, and iu
which he is said to have participated. Later he was chosen
as a representative in the Genei'al Court from Hingham, but
resigned for active service in the army, where we shall here-
after meet him. Mr. Thaxter participated in the ceremonies
of the 17th of June, 1825, at the laying of the comer-stone of
the Bunker-Hill monument, being at that time the only surviv-
ing chaplain of the Revolutionary army. He died at Edgartown
in 1827.

Although but a short time in the field, the value of the ser-
vice rendered by these and other companies which responded
to the Lexington alarm, can scarcely be over-estimated. Com-
paratively few were able to reach the battle-ground and partici-
pate in the glory and renown of the victory, but its fruits were
yet to be secured, and to the men who marched on that memor-.
able morning and then remained patiently on duty until an army
could be raised and posted, is due much of the credit for the ulti-
mate success. In the mean time the British were to be watched,
and any aggressive movement on their part to be met and frus-
trated. These companies were encamped near and about Boston,
virtually commencing even then its siege, and effectually guard-
ing the military stores in the towns near by. Within a very few
days after the battle of Lexington, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts met at Watertown, and took measures to raise a
large permanent army composed of twenty-eight regiments num-
bering between thirteen and fourteen thousand men. To each
soldier, as a bounty, there was promised a coat upon his enlist-
ment, and the towns were ordered to furnish thirteen thousand
coats. In vols. 56 and 57 at the State House, and known as tlie
^^ Coat Rolls," are to be found the names of the officers and men
composing this force, which was enlisted for eight months, and
served from early in May to January of the following year ; the
enlistment of some of the companies is said to have dated from
the 19th of April. These with a few regiments from Connecti-
cut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, composed the greater
part of the army which maintained the siege of Boston. It was
stationed at Dorchester, Roxbury, Cambridge, Watertown, and
other places near the base of operations. General Ward was in

f •

282

Hiiiory of Hingham.

command until the appointment of Washington. Among the
regiments was the 25th, commanded by Gen. Wm. Heath, one of
whose companies was from Hingham. The roll of this command,
however, speaks of it as being ^^ in ye 86th Regt of Foot in ye
Continental Army, Encamp'd in Fort No. 2."
It is as follows : —

Charles
Elias Whiton, Lieut.,
Benjamin Beal, Ensign,
Sam' Gill, Sergeant,
John Lincoln, **
Isaiah Hersey, ^
Moses Sprague, '^
Abijah Whiton, **
John Burr, Corporal,
John Blossom, ^
Chris' Kilby, . **
Tho- Marsh, "

Nath' Dill, Fife,
Jon' Hearsey, Drum,
Abel Barns, Private,
James Bates,
Tho* Bangs»
Seth Brigs,
Caleb Brimhall,
Job Curtis,
Tho' Chubbuck,
James Cooke,
Jesse Dunbar,
Melzar Dunbar,
Jacob Dunbar,
John Dill,
Josh' Dunbar,
Jon' French,
Jacob Gardner,
Ezra Gardner,
James Hayward,

u
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Gushing, Capt.,
Zadoc Hearsey, Private,
David Hearsey, **

James Hayward, Jr., ^
Japheth Hobart, ^
Daniel Hearsey,
Ben j' Joy,
Elisha Lane,
Urban Lewis,
Abisha Lewis,
David Loring,
Josh' Loring,
Lot Marsh,
Hez* Ripley,
John Ripley,
John Roberts,
Jacob Stodder,
Othniel Stodder,
Stephen Stodder,
JosV Stowel,
David Sprague,
Israel Stowel,
Joseph Sprague,
Reuben Stodder,
Hozea Stodder,
Allin Simmonds,
Seth Wilder,
David Wilder,
Abel Whiton,
Hozea Whiton,
David Gardner

** Scituate,
'' Boston,

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The roll of another company also belonging to this command is
here given, although its members for the most part came from
that section of the old town which, formerly composing the
Second Precinct, had within a few years been set o£f as the town
of Cohasset Its captain subsequently commanded a Hingham
company, and so large a proportion of the men composing it
afterwards served either upon Hingham^s rolls or in connection
with her recruits, that it seems desirable to incorporate their
names in this place: —

2Si . Hiitory of Hingham.

Charles Gushing, Capt^ _^

Benjamin Beal, Lieut,

John Lincoln, Ensign,

Moses Sprague, Thomas Marsh,

Abijah Whiton, Joseph Sprague,

Christopher Kilbj, Israel Stowell,

Jonathan Hearsej, Luke Hunt,

Jacob Gardner, Daniel Sprague,

Hosea Stodder, Joseph Whiton,

Joshua Ripley, Abel Whiton,

Luther Gardner, Tliomas Bangs,

Elijah Gardner, Thomas Chubbuck, Jr.,

Noah Hobart, Othniel Stodder, >

Jesse Dunbar, Joshua Stowell,

Lot Marsh, Peter Whiton,

Joshua Dunbar, Joseph Lincoln^

Reuben Stodder, Jr., Natlianiel Stodder,

David Hersey, Joseph Hill,

Israel Whiton, James Hay ward, Jr.,

William Spooner, Daniel Cain,

Levi Gardner, Seth Stowell,

Obadiah StoweL, Issachar Stowell,

and five others who received a bounty from the town, but whose
names have not been ascertained. Mr. George Lincoln says that
Samuel Whiten was in the Canada expedition in Capt. Charles
Cushing^s company, and it is probable that his is one of the
missing names. Another may have been Hosea Whiton, who is
known to have died in the attempt on Canada. After the re-
treat of the army from Canada, Captain Cushing's company was
probably stationed for a time at Ticonderoga, and here on the 1st
of August Joseph Whiton, one of his privates, died.

Capt. Charles Gushing was a descendant of one of the first
settlers of Hingham. Besides efficient military service m the
Revolution, he held many civil offices, and represented the town
in both the House and the Senate. He was known later m life
as Colonel Gushing. His home was at Hingham Centre.

Capt. Job Gushing was a distant connection of Captain Charles,
and commanded a company largely i*ecruited in the second pre-
cinct, now Cohassct, where he resided.

Mr. George Lincoln is authority for the statement that Perez
Gardner was with Arnold in the march through the forests of
Maine in 1775, which had its termination in the disastrous
attack and defeat of the American forces at Quebec on the 81st of
December.

During the siege of Boston both Hingham and Hull were gar-
risoned posts of the American armv. The troops at the former
place during at least a portion of the time, consisted of Capt

Military Hittarg. 285

James Lincoln's company, which was, it b said, posted at CSrow
Point for some eight montlis on its first enlistment. It was
probablj enlisted under the Coat resolves of tlie Provincial Con*
grcss, and served from about Maj, 1775, until 1776. The posi-
tioii was a commanding one and well suited to protect the town
from any small force which the enemy might send either to de-
stroy it, or to forage for hay or provisions. It should be stated,
however, in this connection, that while tradition has located this
command at Crow Point, a situation so advantageous in a militafj
view as almost to carry conviction of its correctness, there is
nearly indisputable evidence that for a time at least, the exact
post was nearer the town, upon Broad Cove, and probably upon
the south side where is now the Cadet Camp g^und. The comr
pany was subsequently posted at the Cove.
In the Commonwealth's archives are the following papers : —

To the Jfon" Council df Jfouu of Reprt$entaiire$ qf tke SlaU rf Jfitf-
sachusettM Buy auemhUd at Waieriowm:

Your petitioners humbly ghow that whereas Reqaisitton was made of
the selectmen of Ilingham to provide Barracks suffidrat for the Reoe|^
tion of a Company of Soldiers employed for the Defence of this oor State^
commanded |>art of the time by Capt. Jumet Lincoln A part of the time
by Capt. Seth Stowers, your petitioners having complyea with the afonf*
Requisition and engaged Barracks for said company the cost of wlucfa we
have here annexed together with the cost of Building a Goardhonae, pray
your Honors to consider of the matter and order that we may have the
money for which we stand engaged.

From your ever DuUful peUtioners,

BSNJ. CUSHIKO f ^

) BtnykoHL

IIixGBAM, 27th August, 1776u

The State of the Massachusetts Bay to the town of Hingham Dr.
To Barracks for Capt Lincoln Company at Broad Cove 8^

months 7.13.^

To Do for said Company at the town Cove six months 8-0-0

To 1 38 feet timber 350 feet Board } in Board ds ^ in Shingle nails ) i 1 1 «

1 14 in shingles carting the same 3^ miles for a guard house )
J To 300 feet Board & 300 Board nails for making Cobbins in

^ the Barracks 0-17-9

■

Benj. Ccshino I ^f

Joseph Andrews

) Hingk

This account was examined, allowed, and paid, and was re-
ceived by Enoch Lincoln on an order from the town.
The roll of this company is as follows : —

MilUarjf EUiory.

Japheth Hobart, Sergeant,
Abner Bates, Corporal,
Jeremiah Hcaraey, **
Thomas Marsh, Private,
Joshua l^eal, **

Ezekicl Lincoln,
Samuel Lazel,
Isaiah Lincoln,
Samuel Todd,
James Beal,
John Stodder,
Benjamin Bams,
Daniel Barker,
Stephen Mansfleld,
Samuel Leavitt,
Moses Whiting,
Elijah Whiting,
Jacob Whiting,
Jonathan Thaxter,
John Marsh, Jun.,
Thomas Gill,
Frederick Lincoln,
Athanasius Lewis,
Elisha Bates,
Peter Wilder,
Joshua Gardner,
Elijah Stowers,

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Isaac Gross, Private,

John Hearsey, Jr., ^

Nehemiah Spragoe, ^

Elisha Lane, ^

Jeremiah Hearsey,

Ruf us Tower,

Welcome Lincoln,

John Hunt,

John B:imes,

Samuel Low,

Joseph Hobart,

Samuel Loring,

Caleb Leavitt, Jr.,

Edmund Hobart,

Benjamin Stowel, Jr.,

David Loring,

David Gardner,

James Haward,

Ezra Gardner,

Jonathan Froraks,

James Chubbuck,

Laban Tower,

James Bates,

Timothy Shave,

Peter Hobart,

Zerubbable Hearsey,

also Elijah Levit and Jesse Humphrey ^^ fifteen days after going*
to Roxbury,*' where they probably served in some oUier command.

Capt James Lincoln, it may be remembered, was not only a
soldier in the last war with France, but was one of the captains
who marched at the first call to arms at the Lexington alarm.
He resided on South Street. Lieut. Seth Stowers, who succeeded
to the charge of this company and commanded the post at Hing-
ham for a while, was also a veteran, and narrowly escaped the
massacre at Fort William Henry. Later in the Revolution Cap-
tain Stowers was stationed with his company for many months at
Hull, and also commanded it in one of the Rhode Island expe-
ditions. Lieut. Knight Sprague was likewise one of the Fort
William Henry soldiers.

Among the few royalists or torJcs living in Hineham at the
opening of the Revolution, were Capt. Joshua Barker, then an
elderly and respected citizen who had held a commission in the
king^s army, and served many years in the wars of his sovereign,
and who could hardly have been expected to abandon the colors
to which the allegiance of the best part of his life had been de-
voted, and Elisha Leavitt who occupied the stately old-fashioned
mansion which, one of the then attractions of the town, with its

288 HUtory of Hingham. 7^

tapestries and grand tiled fireplaces, stood some twenty years
since upon the present site of the Catholic Church. ^

lu this house there was a blind passage to which a secret door
gave entrance, and here it was that Nathaniel Ray Thomas and
other torics from Marshfield were concealed during a search made
for them by the Committee of Safety, and from which they were
subsequently successfully smuggled, by water, to Boston. It is
said that a mob gathered about Leavitt*s house at one time for the
pui^sc of doing violence to his person, and that he diverted them
by rolling out a barrel of rum and dispensing its contents liber-
ally. Be this as it may, there seems to be no doubt that Leavitt
was more than passively opposed to the cause of his countrymen,
and that he supplied the English with hay and vegetables, and

{>robably. cattle. He owned or controlled Grape Island lying %
ittle north of the town, about opposite to Huit's Cove and the
point upon which Bradlcy^s phosphate works now stand at tlie
mouth of Weymouth Back River. Upon the island was a large
quantity of hay and a number of cattle belonging undoubtedly to
Leavitt ; and here on the morning of Sunday, May 21, 1775, came a
body of troops from Boston, accompanied and conveyed by two
sloops and an armed schooner. The expedition had for its object
the hay and other supplies stored there ; but its approach created
considerable alarm in the towns in the neighborhood, where the
fear of a descent caused the hasty loading upon wagons and carts
of the furniture and household effects of numbers of the inhabi-
tants preparatory to removal to places of safety. In the mean
time tne bells rang and guns were fired and a general alarm
given. The militia rapidly gathered, and General Thomas, who
commanded at Roxbury, ordered three companies of the troops in
his division to the assistance of the inhabitants. The old people
of fifty years ago, used to tell of the march of the military down
Broad Cove Lane, now Lincoln Street, on the way to oppose the
British landing, then momentarily expected. Tlie troops thus
referred to were undoubtedly militia from this and~ adjoining
towns. It is probable, however, that Capt James Lincoln^s com-
pany which was enlisted as early as the fifth of the month and
whose camp was at or near Crow Point, was the principal organ-
ized force on the spot. Companies immediately marched, however,
from Weymouth, Abington, and Scituate, in addition to those from
Hingham. From the diary of Paul Litchfield, of Scituate, we get
the following: ** May 21. Just before meeting began in morning,
hearing the King^s troops were landing near Hingham the people
in general dispersed, so no meeting. About 100 Regulars landed
at Grape Isl to get hay." From the point nearest the island a
fire, which was returned from the schooner, was directed against
the English. The distance however was too great for small arms
to be effective, and it was not until tlie flood tide had covered the
flats that the Americans were enabled to float a lighter and a
sloop and drive off the enemy. Having done this, they landed on

tfinWn ri'iifaii liiM liiii ■■■ iir m'r iMittnmmammmiM^aitu^iiiiiaim^ikM^^^^i^^tgmitatQt^^

290 SUtarji of Hingham. ^

Nahum Davis, of Capt Jonathan Bardweirs companj^ in C!ol.
David Brcwer^s regiment Davis also entered the artillery in June.

Marsh Liowis^s name appears on the rolls of both Capt. Daniel
Lothrop's company and Capt Eleazar Hamlin^s company in
Thomas's regiment. Josiah Oakes appears as a lieutenant in
Capt Job Cushing's company of Heath's regiment ; he must have
held his commission a short time only.

On the 15th of June, 1775, the Continental Congress voted to
adopt, under the name of the Continental Army, the troops of the
several provinces tlien constituting the provincial army operating
about Boston ; and on the 16th Washington was chosen its com-
mander-in-chief. This organization, to which reinforcements and
new regiments were added from time to time, was quite different
in its constitution from the force raised under a resolve of Sep-
tember' 16, 1776, known as the Continental Line. This latter
body constituted during the remainder of the struggle the main
reliance and hope of the Americans ; it was indeed Uie backbone
of the army, and corresponded to the regulars of subsequent times.

Under the resolve, eighty-eight battalions were to be raised for
service during the war ; of this number Massachusetts furnished
and placed in the field no less than sixteen of infantry and one of
artillery, — exceeding her quota, which required but fifteen. We
shall hereafter see many Hingham names on the rolls of these
never-to-be-forgotten regiments.

The summer of 1775 and the succeeding winter wore away and
still the siege of the New England town went on. The expira-
tion of short enlistments, and the habit which seems to have pre-
vailed among the militia belonging to at least certain of the
provinces, of leaving the camp for home almost at will, caused
sudden depletions in the American ranks, which were both -alarm-
ing and exasperating to Washington and to the authorities genera
ally. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts during its win-
ter session reorganized the militia of the province. Three major-
generals were appointed, and thirteen regiments formed, of which
ten arrived in camp early in February ; besides these there were
several thousand minute men held in reserve and ready to march
when called upon. By an order in council passed in February,
the companies in Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Hull were
organized as the Second Suffolk regiment; thus the old regi-
ment dating from the days of Winthrop and Dudley and which
had been commanded by them, by Col. Wm. Stoughton, by Josiah
Quincy, by our own John Thaxter, and both Benjamin Lincoln
and Benjamin Lincoln, Jr., ceased to exist The new command
was, however, practically the same as the old, whose designation,
it may be recalled, had already been changed from the Third
Suffolk to the Second Suffolk, although Braintree, so long united
with us, no longer composed a part of the regiment Solomon
Lovell was the new colonel, and Benjamin Lincoln, who had re-
cently commanded the regiment, and who had been untiring in his

Military Histarjf.

291

services to the country from the commencement of the war, ^
chosen brigadier-general on February 8, and major-general just,
one month later. The other regimental officers were Dayid
Gushing, lieut.-colonel ; Thomas Lothrop, 1st major; Isaiah Gush-
ing, 2d major.

March 4th General Thomas with two thousand men took pos-
. session of Dorchester Heights, and immediately constructed strong
works as laid out by Colonel Gridley. At this time tlie army waa
reinforced by a portion of the militia. From Hingham there-
marched three companies; they were all from Golonel Lovell's-
command, and were placed in the works at Dorchester. The?
rolls are as follows: —

Seth Lincoln,
Jesse Bates,
Joshua Lincoln,
Ezra French,
Sam' Norton, Glerk,
Tho' Marsh, Jr., Gorp.,
John Gill, "

Jacob Beal, "

Stephen Stodder, "
Isaac Sprague, Drum,
David Andrews, Fifer,
Joseph Hammond,
Elijah Waters, jun.,
Mitchel Lincoln,
Ezra Lincoln,
Isaac Gardner,
Nath' Fearing,
John Hobart, Jun.,
James Hobart,

Tho" Hearsey,
Levi Lincoln,
Joseph Beal,
Sergt.,

Gapt,

1st Lieut,

2 ^
Galeb Hobart,
Daniel Hobait,
Nath' Stodder,
Bcnj. Ward,
Tho' Waterman, jun.,
Elisha Remington, jun.,
Nath' Lincoln,
Bradford Hearsey,
Nath' Gill,
James Leavitt,
John Beal, jun.,
Gilbert Hearsey,
Joseph Stockbridge,
Sam' Hobart,
Barn a 1 '.'If: Lincoln,
Welcome Lincoln,
Theodore French,
Jon* French, Jun.,
Joseph Blake.

• •

Hawkes Fearing, Clerk,
Samuel Gill, Jr., Sergt,
Elijah Whiton, Jr.,
Thomas Jones, Jr.,
Amos Sprague, Corp.,
David Burr, "

John Burr, Jun., "
John Blossom, "
Zadoc Hearsey, Drummer,
Sol* Gushing, Fifer,

Peter Gushing, Gapt,
Thomas Burr, Lieut,
Thomas Fearing,

Shubael Fearing, FriTate,
John Jones, **

Abel Fearing, **

Benjamin Sprague, Jun.,**
Jacob Gushing, Jun.,
Allen Simmons,
Thomas King,
Nchemiah Ripley,
Isaac Sprague, Jun.,
David Sprague,

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rrtrri*iniiiiiiiMnnhiiiii>MiniiMraii ii'iii'iM-irti'^r miiiiiMm'iMiimi^tltmmiimm^u^niiwMifiima

292

History qf Hingham.

Private,

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David Sprague,
If OSes Whiton,
Jerom Riplej,
Seth Brig^,
Benj. Joj,
Israel Hearsey,
Reuben Hearsej,
Samuel Leavitt, ^

Joshua Leavitty Juil, ^
Joshua Loring,
Ebed Gushing,
Gushing Burr,
Nath : Gilbert,
Gorn^lius Barns, Jun., *'
Ensign Bams, **

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William Gushing, ^rivatie^

Benjamin Gushing, Jun.,^

Jared Lane, <*

David Lane,

Bufus Lane,

Martin Tower,

Daniel Souther,

Jacob Thaxter,

Matthew Gushing,

Silas Joy, Jun^

Enoch Stodder,

Isaach Gushing,

Jonathan Loring.

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Gorporal,

David Gushing, Sergeant,

Samuel Gardner,

Zac* Whiton,

Edward Wilder,

Tho- Gushing,

Abraham Whiton,

Abisha Lewis, Drummer,

Bela Tower, Fifer,

Job Loring, Private,

Ebenezer Gushing, ^

Samuel Whiton, Jun.,

Zenas Wilder,

Robert Gardner,

Ezekiel Gushing,

Thomas Wilder,

Daniel Wilder,

Joshua Hearsej,

Isaiah Tower,

Jonathan Whiten,

James Tower,

Samuel Wilder, Jun.,

Stephen Gardner, 8,

Pyam Gushing, Gapt,
Elias Whiton, Lieut,
Joshua Tower, **
Theophilus Gushing, Glerk,

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Jacob Sprague, Jun., Private,

Daniel Whiton, **

Hawkes Hobart, ^

David Gardner, Jun., ^

Seth Sprague, ^

Zenas Whiton, ^

Stephen Tower, ^

Benjamin Whiten, **

Isaiah Stodder, ^

Amasa Whiton. _*•

Benjamin Ward, ^

Edward Bailey, ^

Jeremiah Gardner, ^

Jacob Dunbar, .^ ^

Laban Stodder, ^

David Farrow, Jun., ' **

Solomon Whiton, ^

Benjamin Dunbar, ^

Elijah Whiton, «

Peter Hobert, «*

Josiah Lane, ^

Elisha Whiton. "^

The first of these companies, that commanded by Gapt Thomas
Hearsey, came from the vicinity of Broad Bridge, and was what
would now be called, if still existing, the ** down town " company.

The company commanded by Capt Peter Gushing, and known
as the ^ Third Foot Gompany " was made up principally of men
from the Lower Plain, now commonly known as Gentre Hingham,

Military History.

293:

while Capt. Pyam Cusliing and liis men came from Glad Tidings
Plain and vicinity, comprising the region known as South Hing^
ham. Capt. Pyam Gushing who was a brother-in-law of General
Lincoln, died during the ensuing summer.

During tlie early days of the Revolution, it will be remembered^
there was great difficulty in obtaining a sufficient supply id pow-
der for the army, and its manufacture was stimulated and en-
courged in every possible way. Hingham performed her part in
this as in other things, and a cei*tificate of the purity of the salt-
petre produced is here given : —

These may certify that the salt petre now presented for sale by Mr.
Joseph Beal (about 80 or 90 weight) was manufactiired at Hingham jby
David & Israel Beal, Israel Lincdn, Jacob Deal, and Ileman Liocoln.

Brnj. Cushino ) S e te d m en .
Joseph Andrews ) oj

• •

HtKOBAM, March 11, 1776.

March 15, 1776, Capt Peter Cushing's company was on duty at
Hingham for sea-coast defence ; it was engaged four days at thU
time. With the exception of John Jones, David Sprague, Beiq.
Joy, Ebed Gushing, Cornelius Barns, Ensign Bams, and David
Lane who did not serve on this occasion, the roll contains the
same names as did that of the company when in the defences at
Dorchester, as well as the following in addition : —

Jacob Leavitt,
Tliomas Loring, Sd,
Joseph Mansfield,
Noah Stodder,
John Beal,
Joseph Leavitt,
Jonathan Smith,
Samuel Burr,
John Fearing,
David Lincoln,
Thomas Burr, Jr.,
Isaac Hearsey,
Thomas Berry,
Joseph Loring,
Thomas Cushing,
Silas Joy,
Caleb Beal,
Loring Bailey,
Mark Clark,
Gridley Thaxter,
Solomon Blake,
Thomas Leach,
Daniel Souther,

Abner Loring,
Isaiah Wilder,
Jesse Sprague,
Robert Goold,
Stephen Cushing,
John Burr,
Noah Humphrey,
Jacob Loring,
Joseph Levis,
Moses Bass,
Benj. Binney,
Benj. Jones,
Jonathan Burr,
James Fearing,
Samuel luring,
Thomas Jones,
Jeremiah Sprague,
Caleb Goold,
Joseph Dorson,
Isaac Beal, Jr.,
El)cn Lincoln, Jr.,
Thomas Lincoln.

iliMMMiiriilUhMMdMyiaMiiiiUya^

294 Hisiary of Hingham.

It was a large company, and more than ninety men performed
duty on this occasion. ^

Not only was Hingham a military post during the siege of Bos-
ton with a regular garrison at Broad Cove, but it was also one of
the sea-coast towns called upon, as in the instance just noted, for
her own defence, and very frequently too for assistance in pro-
tecting her neighbors from threatened British descents. This
service became so onerous that the Council appointed General
Lincoln its agent to appeal to Washington for relief on behalf of
a number of the towns, as appears by the following from Revolu-
tionary Council Papers, vol. i.: —

<an Council, March 20th, 1776.

'' On motion ordered, That Benj. LiDcoln Em)' wait on his Ex' Gen.
WashiDgtoo to request of him that as the militia of the several towns of
Hingham, Weymouth, Braintree, have for a number of days past been
stationed on the sea coast of those towns in order to watch the motions of
the fleet & anny now in the harbor of Boston and to prevent their rava-
£ing and plundering the country, he would send a sufficient detachment
from the army under his command to their relief.'*

The General seems to have had better use for his troops, how-
ever, both then and later ; and as we shall see, until nearly the
close of the war, Hingham continued to defend the sea-coast with
large numbers of her men, and especially by manning the impor-
tant works at Hull.

Sunday, March 17th, General Howe evacuated Boston, and Gkn-
era! Putnam and General Ward entered the town. The next day
General Heath with five regiments was ordered to New York,
and with them went our townsmen under the two Captain Cush-
ings. General Washington entered Boston at the head of the
army on the 20th, and on April 4th, he left Cambridge for New
York, General Ward with five regiments remaining for the pro-
tection of Boston.

But although the British army had departed, the sea-coast
towns continued under the menace of the fleet commanded by
Commodore Banks which lingered in the harbor, and which was
reinforced by seven transports loaded with Highlanders. The
people feared the return of Howe, and fortifications were thrown
up at East Boston, Point Allerton, and elsewhere. Finally a plan
proposed by General Lincoln, to drive the enemy from the harbor,
received the sanction of the Council of Massachusetts, and on
June 13th and 14th it was put in execution. General Ward sent
a part of the Continental troops under his command to assist the
militia who were ordered out for the attempt. To the old Com-
monwealth belongs the sole credit for the success of the last act
in the military operations around Boston*

Like a brilliant panoramic view the scene passes again before
our eyes, and the sound of martial music and the thunder of artil-
lery comes once more to our ears. It is almost a year to a day

Military nistarjf. 205

since through the streets of the queer little New England capital,
witli its stately mansions, its gable-roofed shops, and crooked,
sidewalkless, cobble-paved streets, inarched out the bright red col-
umns which under Howe and Clinton and Pigot moT^ up the
sides of Bunker Hill, on whose green slopes the serried ranks
melted away before the blaze of Prcscott^s muskets, and whose
soil drank up with eager thirst the flowing life-blood of Warren
and Pitcairn, and many another brave and gallant hero — Pro-
vincial and British alike. And now in these same streets the drum
is a^in calling men to arms, and alons Coruhill, — now Washing^
ton Street, — by the Old South, so lately a riding school for Eng-
lish troopers, roll the guns of Craft*s artillery. Here too come*
detachments from Colonel MarshalFs and Colonel Whitney's r^-
mcnts and the Continentals whom General Ward has detailed,
— undoubtedly with a thrill of satisfaction as he recalls the anx-
ious June day when he commanded at Cambridge a twelvemonth
since. By the bookstore of Daniel Henchman where General
Knox had been an apprentice, the troops turn into King Street
and passing the Town House march over the spot where Captain
Preston and the men of the 29th regiment shot down the people
on the night of March 5, 1770, and thence to Long Wharf where
thev are to embark.

What a flood of mcmoi'ies the place awakens! It was here
that Governor Shirley, retuniing in 1745 from the reduction of
Louisburg, landed amid the acclamations of the people and the
salutes of the shipping, and was received by the Cadets under
Colonel Pollard, the Troops of Horse, the Chelsea company, and
Colonel WendclFs regiment; here too in May, 1774, the Cadets re-
ceived General Gage, then Governor of the Province, and here on
the 17th of June of the following year General Gage embarked
the regiments which at Charlestown lost for England an empire,
and in America wrote in blood one of the earliest and most mem-
orable pages in the history of a new nation. And now like a bean-
tiful picture, on this calm summer morning lie the blue waters of
Boston harbor and of our own, both dotted with islands fresh in
the bright green of early summer, and both reflecting the wliite
sails which hang like the snowy wings of great gulls over them.
Beneath some of these frown the gims, and over them floats the
cross of St. George, while in the distance a pine tree on a white
ground marks the anchorage of a Yankee cruiser. Meanwhile
too, from all the towns and villages around, comes the same tap-
tap of the drum and the cheery note of the fife, and down to the
water side march the militia, — the militia which the frequent
alarms of the past year, the occasional skirmish with the enemy^ the
work ill the trenches at Dorchester, and the manning of the lines
at Roxbury, have made into veteran soldiers. Now they respond
with unusual alacrity. Tlie hilltops are covered with eager and
anxious s][)ectators for miles around. With them we watch the
embarkation, and then the long hours of the bright summer day

MUitary HUtary. 297

menace of the preceding months was the attainment, at least in
part, of the men of his own town, and the companies of his own
regiment.

Among the companies in service on this day was that of Capt.
Peter Gushing of Hingham. The roll differs somewhat from that
already given and is as follows : —

Peter Gushing, Capt.,

Thomas Burr, Lieut,

Thomas Fearing, ^

Daniel Gushing, Jr., Serg*., Martin Tower, Private,

Thomas Jones, " " Isaac Hearsej, **

Elijah Whiton, ** •• ^ Joseph Mansfield, **

Amos Sprague, Gorp. Daniel Souther, ^

David Burr, ^ Jonathan Smith, ^

John Burr, Jr^ ^ Jesse Spragne, ^

Zadock Hearscy, Drum, Samuel Lazell, ^

Solomon Gushing, Fife, Isaiah Hearsey, Jr., ^

William Gushing, Private, David Lane, ^

Joshua Loring, ^ Rufus Lane, ^

Thomas Gushing, ^ Abel Fearing, ^

Reuben Hearsey, ** Levi Burr, **

Benj. Gushing, Jr., ' ^ Matthew Cnshmg, ^

Ebed Gushing, « Isaiah Wilder, «<

Moses Whiton, ^ Laban Hunt, *^

Nehemiah Ripley ** Thomas Loring, Jr., ^

Isaac Sprague, Jr., ^ Joshua Leavitt, ^

Benj. Barns, ** Squire (a negro). •*
John Hunt, "

The same company was again called into the service on June
23d, and responded with the additional names of —

Abner Loring, Nathaniel Gilbert,

Jacob Thaxter, Welcome Beal,

Eh'sha Gushing, Jr., Enoch Stodder,

Thomas King, Reuben Simmons,

John Barns, Jr., Isaac Gushing,

Thomas Berry, Silas Joy, Jr^

Benj. Joy, Noah Stodder,

David Sprague, Israel Stodder,

Benj. Gushing, Jr., Shubael Fearing

On the same date, and also at Hull, we find another Hing-
ham company in the service. Although there appears to be
no record of the occasion, the alarm must have been pressing
to require the presence of such a number of men. The roll is
here given: —

iMBMUiiftdMiM

iMidiritiiiiiriiri

'fiiiir-iinii

298

HUtorjf of Hingham.

Hcman Lincoln, Ist Lient.,
Joseph Beal, 2 **

Saml Norton, Clerk,
Ezra French, Sergt,
Seth Lincoln,
Jesse Waters,
Joshua Lincoln,
Nath' Stoddard,
Japeth Hobart,
Gersham Lincoln,
James flobart,
Nath* Lincoln, Jr.,
Gilbert Hearsey,
Isaiah Lincoln,
Tho' Stoddard,

Abijah Stoddard,
James Lcavitt,
William Tidmarsh^
Caleb Hobart,
Barnibas Lincoln,
David Beal, Jr.,
John Hobart,
Caleb Marsh,
David Andrews, .
Joseph Stockbridge,
John Hobart, Jr.,
Daniel Hobart,
Thomas Marsh, Jr.,
Jacob Beal,
Jacob Whiton.

Captain Cashing was again at Hull for a number of days in the
following December, but the roll of the 14th of that month is
quite different from those preceding it, and is here given : —

•

Peter Cushing, Capt.,
Levi Bates, Lieut,
Jerom Stephenson, Lieut.,
Sergt, Noah Stodder,

((

Isaac Cushing,
Elisha Stephenson,
Isaiah Hearsey, Jr., ^
John Burbanks, ^

Timothy Gushing, Corp
Jesse Sprague,
David Burr,
Nath Bates,
Levi Tower, Drum',
Matthew Cushing,
Daniel Souther,
Isaiah Wilder,
Abel Fearing,
Benj: Sprague, Jr.,
David Burr,
David Lane,
Silas Joy, Jr.,
Shubael Feanng,
Matthew Hunt,
Samuel Burr,
Tho' Berry,
Samuel Thazter,
Benj. Joy,
Ebed Cushinp^,
Joshua Loring,

Tho' Cushing,
Nehemiah Ripley,
Thomas King,
Cushing Burr,
Abel Beal,'
Lusanus Stephenson,
Abner Bates,
John Wilant, Jr.,
Daniel Nichols, Jr.,_
Gershom WheelwrigHi,
Amhross Bates,
Zenas Lincoln,
Jonathan Cushing, Jr.,
Tho' Pratt,
Eli Lane,
Zebulon Wilcut,

Ur Lincoln,

Lazarus Lincoln,
Job Wilcut,
Ephraim Lincoln,
Samuel Bates, Jr.,
Jonathan Bates,
John Pritchet,
\bner Bates.

mtt^

fc__ ^ ^^^.

M^MiiMJMBi

in I iJBHi^liMMiifc

MUrfAa

MilUwry HUtarjf.

299

Capt Peter Gushing resided on East Street ; he was a brother of
Capt. Stephen Gushing, also a soldier of the Revolution. Enoch
Dunbar was in the Canada expedition in Captain Stephens* com-
pany of artillery. Capt. Scth Stowers commanded a company in
Col. Josiah Whitney's regiment, and was on duty at Hull in Octo-
ber, 1776. His roll was as follows : —

u
u
u

Elijah Lewis,
Joseph Wilder,
John Gill,
Benjamin Jacobs,
David Lincoln, Corp.,
Stephen Stodder,
Joshua Beal,
Abisha Lewis, Drum,
Nath'l Dills, Fifer,
Gershom Beals,
Isaac Beals,
John Bray,
Elisha Bates,
Gushing Burr,
Joshua Beals, Jr.,
Elisha Beals,
Benj. Barnes,
Elisha Bates, Jr.,
Joseph Beals,
Welcome Beals,
Jaraus Beals,
Timothy Clark,
Slierediah Corthell,
Jas Gushing,
Rob*t Gardner,
Joshua Gardner,
John Hearsey,
Jesse Humphreys,

Scth Stowers,
Peter Nichols,
Elijah Beals,
Sergt,

Capt,

1st Lient,

2 ^

Edmund Hobart^
Ezekiel Hersey,
Elisha House,
Joseph Hudson,
Gideon Howard,
Abner Joy,
Jedediah Joy,
Lot Lincoln, Jr.,
Caleb Leavitt,
Ephraim Lincoln,
Joseph Marble,
Thos Marble,
James Marble,
Jonathan Allen,
James Tower,
Elisha Merritt,
Bela Tower,
Stephen Mansfield,
Jesse. Tower,
Enoch Stoddar,
Noah Stoddar,
Daniel Stoddar,
Joseph Souther,
Timothy Thayer,
Isaac Whitten,
Stephen Whitten,
Joseph Wilcutt,
Thos. Wilcutt

This company was on duty eight months at Nantasket ^ Cap-
tain Penniman, of Braintree, commanded a company in Colonel
Francis' regiment. It was composed of men drafted from Hing-
ham, Dorchester, Braintree, Stoughtenham, and Milton.

The following are the names of Hingham men who served with it :

Theophilus Wilder, 1st Lieut.,
John Blowson, Sergt.,
Daniel Wilder, Corp.,
Bela Tower, Fifer,
W" Gardenner, Private,

Laban Tower, Private,

Jonathan Gardener, ^
David Prouty, "

Jonathan Farer, **

Ezekiel Gushing. ^

iftiatiaittBBfcMtAdMi^MMaii^^iriyi^Miiiiii iii^lih llTfclrfUBilttMMMiflMMahia

300 History of Hingham.

^ A Paj Roll of Cap* Joseph Tnifant*8 Company Raised f^r the
Defense of ye Sea Coast within State of ye Massachusetts from the
first of December down too the first of January, 1777," contains
the following names of Hingham men : ~^

Thos Bicknell, Sergt,
Thos Gill, Private,
Sam' LazelL

In still another company we find Hingham men serving in the
year 1776 ; Capt. Abisna Brown, of Concord, commanded a com*
pany in Col. Josiah Whitney's regiment, which served at Hull ;
and from a roll of the men in camp there in November we get the
foUowing^names : —

Nehemiah Sprague, Japeth Hobart,

Samuel Lazell, Jacob Whiton,

Thomas Wilder, James Bates.

September 12, a resolve passed the General Court which pro-
vided for reinforcing the army at New York, by sending a part of
the militia ; and on the 14th the House of Representatives by a
resolve concurred in by the Council on the 16th, chose General
Lincoln to command the men raised for the purpose.

The town had already sent Lieut John Burr with fifteen men'to
Ticonderoga, where they johicd a company commanded by Cap-
tain Endicott, and now moi-e were to be raised under the resolve
of the legislature. During the month, September, Capt Peter
Gushing obtained twenty-three, who were sent to New York, and
in December Capt. Job Gushing marched for the same state
with thirty-seven men credited to Hingham. It has not been
possible to obtain the names of all of the above, but the roll of
Capt. Job Cushing's company, augmented to over fifty, is here
given. Considerable information about its service is obtainable
from a diary kept by Thomas Burr, a lieutenant in the company,
who had already served not only in the army of the Revolution,
but still earlier in the last French war, in which he had also kept
a journal, and recorded many incidents of the service of a Hing-
ham company. The roll, which included some Cohasset names,
was: —

Job Gushing, Capt,

Tho' Burr, 1 Lieut,

Joseph Beal, 2 **

Isaac Sprague, Sergt, Nathan Gilbert, Corp.,

Jabes Wilder, " Zadock Hersey, Drum.,

Thomas Marsh, ** Levi Teakes, Fifer,

Jerom Lincoln, ^ Jairus Beal, Private,

Caleb Pratt, Corp., Gershom Beal, ^

Caleb Joy, ^ James Bates, ^

David Beal, ^ LazMrus A. Beal, ^

Military History.

Adna Bates,

Private,

Jared Lane,

Private,

Daniel Gushing,

Henrj Lambert,

James Chubbuck,

Micah Nichols,

Theodore French,

Ambrose Nichols,

Thomas Gill,

Luke Orcutt,

Samuel Gill,

Ephraim Orcutt,

John Gill,

Hezekiah Riplej,

Gideon Howard,

James Stodder,

William Hobart,

Daniel Stodder,

Caleb Hobart,

Jacob Stodder,

Jeremiah Hersej,

Isaiah Stodder,

Hawkes Hobart,

Benj. Stetson,

Edmund Hobart,

Stephen Tower,

Japheth Hobart,

Peter Tower,

John Hunt,

Timothy Thayer,

Bcnj. Joy,

Benjamin Ward,

Israel Lincoln,

Benjamin White,

Bcza Lincoln,

Levi Tower.

Tliesc men were in the army at this time from about December
19, 1776, to April 2, 1777, and perhaps longer. Captain Gush-
ing, like Lieutenant Burx, was an experienced officer: his com-
pany marched from Hingbam on the former of the above dates,
through Abington, and afterwards by way of Pawtucket and Provi-
dence, through Rhode Island and Connecticut, their long journey
leading them to Hartford and Waterbury among other places.
Finally they entered New York, arriving at Westchester Jan-
uary 7th. Brief as are the records in Lieutenant Burros diary,
they interest us not a little, for the personal glimpses which are
afforded by them of the marches and skirmishes and experiences
of our own townsmen.

Thus he says under date of Jan. 19 : *^ One of our men killed
by a cannon ball from the enemy .*' On the 21st, ** Alarmed by
the Hessians — they driven back.*' 23d, ^^ Skirmish — one Lt.
and 4 men killed.'' 27th, ^^ Lay ih ambush — our cannon played
on Fort Independence." He tells of marches to Tarrytown, where
Andres was subsequently captured, and other places in the vicinity;
and at last, in February, of the entry into Morristown in New Jer-
sey. Here were the headquarters of Washington during the win-
ter succeeding his brilliant achievements at Trenton and Prince-
ton. Here too our old fighting chaplain appears again, and
Lieutenant Burr says, under date of February 12 : " Sunday Mr.
Thaxter preached from Psalms 118-18 & 19 v.*' March 2d, he held
forth to his friends and fellow soldiers from home. March Sth^
the diary tells us that there was a '^ Skirmish between 2000 of tiie
enemy k 1000 of our men — our men beat them back ; '* and so
on. In July Colonel MarsbalPs and Colonel Whitney's regiments
were ordered to Canada. In both there were Hingham men, al-

**'m

iUMlkli^liMMWM«MHiHM«BiailMH(iiM^

802 History of Hinghanu

though there is such confusion in the rolls as to make it^racti-
cally impossible to give names and time of service.

The town continued as earnest at home in the support of the
patriot cause as it was active in the field. March 18, 1776,
Theophilus Gushing, John Fearing, Thomas Loriug, Israel Beal,
and Peter Hobart were chosen a Committee of Correspondence,
Inspection and Safety ; and May 23d, Benjamin Lincoln, Hezekiah
Cushing, and Dea. Joshua Hersey were appointed a committee
to prepare instructions for the representatives, Enoch Lincolui
Theophilus Cushing, and John Fearing, just chosen. This thej
did in the following terms : —

To Enoch Lincoln^ TTieophilus Cuthing^ and John Fearing:

Gentlemen, — You are delegated to represent the Town of Hinsham
in the next General Court to be held in this colony ; and altbou^ we
entertain the highest sense of your integrity, patriotism, and ability, of
which we have given full evidence in appointins you to tl^ weighty trust,
vet as matters of the greatest importance relative to the freedom and
happiness not only of this but of all of the United Colonies, on which yon
may wish to have the advice of your constituents, will come before you
for your determination — yon are instructed and directed at all timet to
give your vote and interest in support of the present struggle with Great
Britain. We ask nothiug of her but ** Peace, Liberty, and Safety." You
will never recede from that claim ; and agreeably to a resolve of the late
House of Representatives, in case tlie honourable Continental Congress
declare themselves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, solemnly
to engage in behalf of your constituents, that they will with their lives
and fortunes support them in the measure. You will also, as soon as may
be, endeavor to procure a more equal representation of thb colony in
General Assembly ; and that it be by fewer members than at present the
several towns have a right to return ; and when this is affected yon will
give your vote for calling a new house.

Benjamin Lincoln, Town Clerk.

It is impossible not to notice the signature, or to avoid givine a
thought to the man who wrote the words, *^ Benjamin Lincoln,
Town Clerk," at the foot of this document Within a period of a
little more than a year he had as colonel of his regiment been
hurrying his men to Lexington and to the investiture of Boston ;
been chosen by the Council the first of the Committee, upon which
were also Major Fuller, of Newton, Mr. Singleton, Mr. Durfee, and
Mr. Dexter, to consider the very important matter of providing
each of the soldiers composing the army then rapidly gathering
around Boston with the coats which had been promised as a
bounty to each man upon enlistment, — from which comes the
term *^ Coat Rolls,'' as applied to the lists of the Massachusetts
troops raised to besiege Lord Howe ; been sent to Washington by
the Council upon the matter of sea-coast defence ; been promoted
to be brigadier-general in the colonial establishment; in May,
1775, served as a member of the Provincial Congress, of which

MilUary HUtarjf. 808

bodj he was also secretary, and in July represented the town in
the General Court at Watertown, besides being a member of the
Committee of Correspondence, — one of the most active patriots
of the day, yet finding time to attend faithfully to the humble
duties of clerk of his native town. Hingham has ample justifica-
tion for her pride in Major-General Benjamin Lincoln, of the
Army of the Ke volution. Only the briefest sketch of his life can
be here given. Born in Hingham, Jan. 24, 1783, he was the son
of Colonel Benjamin Lincoln, commander of the third Suffolk
regiment and a member of his Majesty's council. At twenty-one
years of age young Benjamin was one of the six constables of the
town, which office he held two years. In 1755 he became adjiK
taut of his father's regiment, and in 1757 was chosen town clerk,
succeeding his father in that office, who in his turn had, in 1727,
succeeded his father, also Benjamin Lincoln. In 1763 Mr. Lincoln
became second major of the regiment. In 1766 he was elected
one of the selectmen, and held this office during the next five
years. He became Lieut.-Colonel in 1772, and was in command
of the regiment at the opening of the Revolution. In 1772 he
represented the town in the General Court, and was re-elected
in 1778 and 1774. As already seen. General Lincoln was one of
the earliest and most prominent in opposing the encroachments
of the Crown upon the liberties of the people, serving upon the
town's Committees of Correspondence,' Safety, and Muitia. His
services in the Provincial Congress and his activity and useful-
ness in the opening months of the Revolution have been referred
to previously. February 8, 1776, he was commissioned brigadier-
general by Massachusetts, and in the May following major-generaL
During the first year of the war General Lincoln rendered most
valuable service to the army as a member of the committee on
supplies ; and the miscellaneous papers at the State House afford
many instances of most important orders signed bv him in that
capacity. He planned and commanded the successfully executed
movements which finally drove the enemy from Boston harbor
in 1776. During the same year he commanded the reinforce-
ments of militia sent by the province to Washington. So urgent
were the requests of the latter for assistance that every fifth man
was ordered to respond, the sea-coast towns being exempted at
this time. While in New York, General Lincoln commanded one
of the four divisions of the army. Toward the close of the year
he was appointed to the command of the militia raised in Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut for the defence of Rhode Island. On
the 19th February, 1777, Stirling, St. Clair, Lincoln, Mifflin, and
Stephen were commissioned major-generals in the Continental
service. In the following July General Lincoln was selected by
Washington to command the 5^ew England militia raised to aid
the Northern army operating against Burgoyne. Gaining the rear
of the British, Lincoln despatched Colonel Brown to attempt the
recapture of Ticonderoga and ^e posts in the vicinity. The

» •

'i
t

aM^gartliMiMiiiMM*ii[iMfc*^uaiaMiMiiM<fca«iMi^^ r iiMin iii n ^ th' t u M t km 1 tm i i rrv ki u m -m i

804 History of Hinghavu

expedition accomplished important results. On the 29th September
General Lincoln with two thousand men joined the main armj
under Gates, and October 8 he was severely wounded in the leg
during a skirmish. Before returning to Hingham, it became
necessary to remove a considerable portion of the main bone, and
under the painful operation it is said that he exhibited most un»
eommon patience and fortitude. It was years before recovery
from the wound was complete, and it occasioned lameness during
the remainder of his life. General Lincoln reported for duty at
the headquarters of the army in the following August, to the great
gratification of Washington. At the request of the delegates
from South Carolina and Georgia he was designated by Congress
to take command of the southern department. He arrived in
Charleston in December, 1778, and was compelled to form an
army and raise supplies. In this he showed unconquerable energy
and perseverance. For nearly a year he kept the English under
Prevost below tlie Savannah, and being joined by D'Estaing with
the French fleet', he invested Savannah on September 28, 1779.
October 9th, the combined forces in three columns and led by
D'Estaingand Lincoln in person, made an assault on the enemy's
works. The allies Mere defeated with great loss; it was here
that Count Pulaski was killed, with manv other gallant ofiicers.
The siege was immediately raised and the French failed away,
leaving Lincoln to contend alone against the victorious army. A
more unfortunate ending to what promised to be a brilliant cam*
paign can hardly be conceived. The fault lay with the impatience
of the French commander, at the neccssanly deliberate approaches
which the siege required, and his determination to abandon the
attempt unless an immediate assault was undertaken. After the
disastrous failure to capture the place. General Lincoln retreated
to Charleston, where he passed the winter in vain endeavors to
hold an army together and inspire the population with the spirit
of patriotism and resistance. By March he had only fourteen
hundred men left, while the town and the surrounding country
were full of Loyalists. In April Sir Henry Clinton invested
Charleston with five thousand men, and on May 11th after a re-
sistance of forty days, General Lincoln surrendered with his whole
army. His conduct of the campaign has received severe criti-
cism; but whatever its merits or demerits, he lost the confidence
of neither the army nor the country, and when in the following
spring he again reported for duty, it was to receive from Washing-
ton an important command. In July he threatened New York,
but finding it impracticable to attack the English there, withdrew
under Washington's orders, and with his division marched across
New Jersey and into Virginia, where he took part in the siege of
Yorktown. On the 6th of October the first parallel was com-
menced by troops commanded by General Lincoln, and on the
19th the garrison surrendered, — Comwallis' sviord being received
by Lincoln, who as a special honor from Washington was in charge

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■ I

■ ;/

Bittory <ff Bingham,

GKXXBAL I-IKCOLM'I MOMOMKirr.

neither honor nor love in his own town and among his own nei^
bors. Not far from the firGt settlers' monument in the old fort, in
the quiet part of the cemetery orerloolcing the town, where great
pines sing a lullaby, and whei-e all around are the bones and the
torol)8 of those he knew and loved, lie tlic mortal remains of this
soldier of the Revolution. A stone, plain and massive, of white
marble, and worthy of the man, marks the spot. On one side are
the words :

BENJAMIN LINCOLN

MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION

BORN JANUARY 24, 1788

DIED MAT 9, 1810

And on tiie other :

ERECTED BY HIS DESCENDANTS
1852

Here on each Memorial Day the beautiful colors of the nation
which he did so much to found, blend with the sweet flowers
strewn in honor and memory by the brave men of a later time ;
and they who bring the laurel and the myrtle for the young lives
given to their country in 1861 do not forget nor pass by the hero
who made possible the later sacriGce.

With the war the town's expenditures increased at a rate that
must have seemed appalling to the conservative citizens, habitn-

MUUary Hutarg. SOT

ally economical, and critical of every ontlay; yet they were
bravely met, and generous sums were voted for the caro of the
soldiers' families, in addition to the other large amounts required.
Here are some of the items for this year : —

At the several meetings (of the town) in Jul? Sept. Nov* & DeeF
[1776] the Towu Voted to Raise £G15 14« Sd for the Soldiers who wers
employed in the CoiitiucnUl Service & raised by the Town of Hingham.

To Hawks Fearing Transporting Cannon to Hall 0-^ '

To D^ for Transjwrting Haggage for Capt Peter Cnshings > ^^
Capt Pyara Cushings & Capt. Tlio* Hearseys Company . J

To 15 Soldiers that were hired to go with Lieut John Burr to

Ticonderoga ^ 1-9-5

To 23 men that were hir'd to go to New York in Sept List

with Capt Peter Cushing 98-8-4

To 37 men that were hir*d to go to York in Dec. Last with

Capt Job Cashing 816-1-4

By order of the selectmen Caleb Loring furnished supplies to
a company or companies from Scituate and Pembroke while at
Hingham, and his bill, accompanied by a certificate from Benja-
min Cushing and Joseph Andrews, we find to have been allowed
by the State.

The Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety,
chosen in March, 1777, were Israel Real, Samuel Norton, John
Fearing, Peter Cushing, Tliomas Loring, Peter Hobart, and The- -
ophilus Cushing. In June Israel Beal was appointed ^to pro-
cure evidence against such persons as are suspected of being
inimical to this and the United States of America, in this town."

Among the large number of vessels of all sizes and descriptions
in the naval service during the Revolution, was tlie brig ^ Hax-
ard,*' built by John Peck, of Boston, and carrying sixteen guna.
She made three successful cruises, the first from October, 1777, to '
May, 1778, under command of Capt. Simeon Sampson; the seo-
end in 1778-1779, and the third in 1779, in both of which she was
commanded by Capt John Foster Williams. During this period
— from 1777 to 1779 — she made many prizes, among them the
British brig "Active,*' eighteen guns, after an engagement of
thirty-five minutes. She belonged to the Commonwealth of Massa-
chusetts, and was engaged in the unfortunate Penobscot expedi-
tion in 1779, and in August of that year was burned by her crew
to save her from falling into the hands of the enemy. Her oflS-
cers and crew were transferred to the " Protector,** a fine vesseL
Among the crew of the " Hazard,'* were a number of Hingham
men. Those known are as follows : —

Walter Hatch, 2d Lieut., Joseph Lincoln, Corporal of

Stephen Lincoln, Armorer, Marines,

Samuel Lincoln, Jairus Lincoln,

hlA^J^MMyklMHitiiiiMttSaiMii^^

808 Biaiory of Bingham.

Bojal Lincoln^ Zenas Whiton,

Ezekiel Lincoln, Peter Wilder, ^

Jonathan Gushing, Abel Barnes,

Laban Thaxter, Elias Beal.

There is some authority for the statement that the ^ Hazard ^
was in commission in 1776, and that most, if not all, of the above
were in service with her in that year. Mr. Lincoln, in the ^ History
of Hingham,'' speaks of the four cruises of the '^Hazard.**

These men also were undoubtedly on board, in 1778. In ad-
dition, William Tidniarsh was captain's clerk in this latter year.

Joseph Lincoln and Jonathan Gushing were captured on board
a prize of the ^* Hazard's '' and carried prisoners to Halifax, in
1778'; in 1780 Gushing was a prisoner on the Jersey prison-ship.
In 1779 Asabel Stodder was in service on the ^ Hazard.'*

Gapt. Thomas Melville commanded a company in Col. Graft's
battalion in 177C and upon his rolls was borne the name of
William Lewis.

August, 1777, Isaac Wilder, then only 17 years of age, died in
captivity at Halifax.

Hingham had a further part in the naval service of the Bevoln*
tion; for under date of December 16, 1776, a charter of the
schooner ^^ Edward," of about 70 tons, was made by Galeb Loring
to the Board of War, and a little later, on the 8th of January,
1777, he executed a like paper for the schooner ^ Hazard," of 60
tons. He also owned the armed brig ^^ Rising States,'" which was
captured by a British frigate.

llie charters of these vessels were very clastic in their provi-
sions, and no limitations were really placed upon the uses to
which they were to be put.

It is extremely difficult to give anything approaching a complete
history of the militia organizations belonging in Hingham from the
close of 1776. It is probable that the large number of men in the
regular service and the frequent drafts for particular expeditions
and exigencies may have so far depleted the companies belonging
distinctly to the town as to at last result in their complete disorgani-
zation, or at least to work such a suspension of their activity as
make them no longer the subject of particular mention. The last
record of this kind that has come to notice is the following: —

Hingham, Jooe 10th, 1777.
These may CerUfy that a legal] meeting of the Training band and
alarm list of the first Company in said Town Benjamin I^pham was
Chosen Capt of Said Company.

Isaiah Ccshixo, Maj.

In Council, August 7, 1777, Read and Ordered that Said Officer be
Commissioned agreeable to his Rank.

Jas. Avert, 2>y. iSSMy.

■,^^..^...:.,>.-^.^>l_.:^-.AtoM-.^^^^*.L^.:^^ .. .■,.._,^ -,..,.

SIO Hisiarjf of Hingham. ^

of militia, on duty from May 15 to Julj 15, bore the following
Hiugbam men upon its rolla : — ^

Joshua Tower, Lieut, Israel Lincoln, Privatey

Jonathan Hearsey, Sergt., Seth Stoel, *^

David Hearsey, Drummer, David Cain, *^

Jonathan Lewis, Privatey Melzar Dunbar, *^ ,

David Loring, ^^ Amos Dunbar, *^

Thomas Wilder, ^ Ezekiel Lincoln, <«

Peleg Whiton, " Caleb Levet, ««

Daniel Dunbar, ** Nathaniel Bates, ^

Enoch Dunbar, ^

In the early part of this year there was a company in ser-
vice commanded by Captain Penniman, of Braintree. The oidy
Hingham name then on the roll appears to have been that of
Theophilus Wilder, who was 1st Lieut.

There is another roll, however, of a company serving under com-
mand of Capt. Theophilus Wilder, and composed of men from
Hingham, Stoughton, and Braintree. Tlie names from Hingham
were: —

Theophilus Wilder, Capt., Thomas Howard, Private,

Elisha Lewis, Sergt., Humphreys **

Laban Tower, Corp., Thomas Howard, Jr., ^

Bela Tower, Fifer, Whiston, «

Ezekiel Cushiug, Private, Enoch Dimbar, *^

Jdna. Gardner, ^* Laban Hunt, *^

Sam'lLow, ** Whiton, ^

David Prouty, ** Elijah Gardner, **

Fazzen, ** Tlios. Colbart, . ««

Joshua Hobartt, ^ Rufus Tower. <«

This company, like Captain Penniman's, was undoubtedly in
Colonel Dike's militia regiment, and probably was in the service
in the early part of 1777.

llr. Lincoln states in his history that there were thirty-three
men with Capt Job Cushing, in New York, in 1777, but he gives
no information as to the time of year or location of their service.
It is much to be regretted that the numbers and names of our
fellow townsmen who served in the great Northern Campaign of
this eventful year, cannot be fully given. We know, however,
that when General Lincoln received his wound at Stillwater, on the
morning of October 8, he had with him his friends and neighbors
who had marched at his call, as they had so many times before, both
for his father and himself. It was at the taking of Burgoyne, too,
that Joshua Ripley, of Colonel Wigglesworth's regiment, of the
Continental Line, and Nehemiah Ripley, of Capt Theophilus Wil-
der's company, of Col. GilPs regiment, were killed. Capt Wilder
had twenty-eight Hingham men with him at first, and the company

Military History.

811

was afterwards increased to fifty-two. The following nmxnm
appear upon a roll in August, togeUier with many others not from
this town : —

u
u

Theophilus Wilder, Capt,
Abijah Whitton, Sergt,
Nehcmiah Ripley, Corp.,
Thaddeus Bates,
David Harsay,
Peter Harsay, Drum-Major,
Benjamin Barns, Private,
Canterbury Barns,
Ambross Bates,
Thomas Chubbuck,
Sherebiah Corthwill, "
Stephen Gardner, **

u
u

Jeremiah Gardner, Private,

Nehemiah Hubburti **

Benjamin Joy, ^

Able Lincoln, ^

Israel Lincoln, ^

Seth Stowell, «<

Stephen Stowell, ^

Joshua Stowelly ^

Israel Stowell, ^

Seth Wilder, «

Peter Whitton, «

Abel Whitton, «

Two items of money voted by the town in 1778, for expenses
incurred in the previous year, are certainly suggestive, aluiough
there is no further evidence of the presence of Hingham men at
General Starless victory on August 16th.

They are an allowance of £133 to Captain Wilder for travelling
fees for one hundred and ninety miles to Bennington, and £ 7-4-6
paid^'toTho* Chubbuck for so much due for Transporting the
Soldiers Baggage to Bennington.**

While the town was earnestly performing its allotted part
towards the general conduct of the war, it was not unmindful of
its own defence, as we see by the following requisition : —

Hingham, Aoguit Ist, 1777.
Sir. — Please to deliver to Mr. Israel Beal, the bearer hereof, 250 wdgbt
of powder, 50 weight Musquet Ball, and 500 flints for the use of the Town
of llingham, & you '11 oblige yoart,

To the Commissary Greneral
at Watertown.

Benj. CnsHiNO, ) e ? ^4-. *
Joshua Leavitt, ^^St^-'^
Joseph Andrews, ) ^»"y'»«^

There is great difficulty in determining . with certainty the
names of men who enlisted into the Continental reeular service
during particular years ; the very multiplicity of rolls and lists
with differing headings adds to the confusion. When, as is fre-
quently the case, town and private records are really or seemingly
at variance with these, entire accuracy becomes out of the ques-
tion. From these and other causes it may happen that names
deserving of honorable mention are omitted entirely, and that
others get misplaced. The following appear to have served in
Hingham's quota for three years, enlisting in 1777. Non-residents
are indicated, when it is known, by the name of the town to which
they belonged immediately following their own names ; the cap-
tains and colonels under whom these soldiers served are also
indicated.

m^tm

B^lMt^al^fc^ii^riaiAiiiMiJIiiJiMtinf ■ -iin ■ i^ niir

■i'l -frfft

■ •..JW.- -*

lMM^«taata^hi*Jbi

812

HUtory <if Hingham.

Caivtaiii

Colonel -^

Nathaniel Coit Allen,

Marshall,

MarshalL

Elisha Bate,

Alden,

Baylev.
Wigglesworth.

James Cook,

Pilsbury,

John Davis,

Langdon,

Jackson.

George Douty, Falmouth,

Blaisdell,

Wigglesworth,

William Ellcry, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson.

Robert Ford, **

«*

** (deserted).

Joseph Falmouth, Falmouth,

Lunt,

Alden.

Adam Fernando, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson.

Elisha Gardner,

Briant,

Crane*

Castle Gardner,

Light Horse.

Jacob Gardner,

Williams,

Greaton. *

Thomas Gosling, Boston,

Allen,

Alden.

Samuel Green, ^

Ellis,

Bigelow.

Jacob Gurney, "

Langdon,

Jackson.

Daniel Golden (also called

Gould), Falmouth.

Ellis,

Bigelow.

John Gray, Jr., Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson.

John Griggs, *•

Charles Hardman, *^

Allen,

Alden.

Adam Henry, *'

Langdon,

Jackson.

Joseph Hobart,

Pilsbury,

Wigglesworth.

Thomas Hassell,

Tuckerman,

Patterson.

Daniel Hearsey,

Light

Horse.

Jesse Humphrey,

Williams,

Greaton.

James Hisket, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson.

Peter Huson, **

Thomas Kilby, **

a •

•

Bela Leavitt,

Briant,

Crane.

Caleb Lincoln,

Urbane Lewis,

Allen,

Bayley.

Marsh Lewis,

Lot Lincoln, Jr.,

Pilsbury,

Wigglesworth.

Daniel Low,

Marshall,

Marshall.

James Love, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson.

John Lewis, **

Emmanuel Lorel,*'

Isaac Lane, Buxton

William Murphy, Boston,

Allen,

Alden.

Ichabod Meakum, ^^

Langdon,

Jackson.

Plato McLean, "

Ellis

Bigelow.
Alden.

Wm. McCandy, Falmouth,

Lunt,

Plato McLellan

(a negro), **

Ellis,

Bigelow.

Joseph McConner, ^

Clem Pennel, **

Ellis,

Bigelow.

William Palding, Hingham or

Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson.

Military History.

818

Nathan Patridge, Falmouth,
Thomas Rumrill, Boston,
Joshua Ripley,
Hezckiah Ripley,
Nathaniel Stodder,
William Spooner,
Abel Sprague,
Hosea otoddar,
Joseph Stockbridge,
Jouathau Sayer, Boston,
John Scott, **

John Simmonds, ^
Ilenry Thomson,
Henry Tibbits, Boston,
Israel Whiton,
John Woodman, Paxton (said

also to be Hingham),
Thomas Wilton, Boston,
Mark Wilson, Falmouth,

Smith,

Alden,
Briant,

Seward,

Williams,

Alden,

Allen,

Langdon,

Briant,

Allen,

Brown,

Lane,
Allen,
Blasdel,

Patterson*

igglesworth.
yiey.

Wi
Bay
Crane*

u
a

Greaton.
Bayley.
Alden.
Jackson.

Cranei
Alden.
Jackson.

Alden. *

Alden.

Patterson.

Among the most faithful soldiers of the Revolution was Daniel
Hearsey. We found him. first in Capt. Charles Cushing^s com-
pany besieging Boston ; afterwards he enlisted in the Continental
service in Knox's Artificers, and subsequently his name appears
upon tho rolls of Col. William Washington's celebrated regiment
of Light Horse, where he was a trooper for three years, having
for a comrade his townsman Castle Gardner. Finally, he closes
his military career as a member of ^' His Excellency Gen'l Wash-
ington's Guards, commanded by Henry Collfax," according to
the State House records. Colonel ColUax's name was, however,
William, not Henry as stated.

Joseph Cook also served in the Second Regiment, Colonel
Greaton, and the Sixteenth, Col. Henry Jackson ; Marsh Lewis
was subsequently in the regiment of invalids, commanded by Col-
onel McFarland. Mark Wilson served at one time in Captain
Smart's company of Wigglesworth's regiment. Perez Gardner,
according to Mr. Lincoln, not only served in Colonel Vose's regi-
ment, but was also in Captain Flint's company of Colonel John-
son's militia regiment at the taking of Burgoyne ; was six months
on p^uard in Captain Foster's company at Cambridge, took part
in the Rhode Island campaign under the same officer, and in
Mcintosh's regiment in 1778, and subsequently in the campaign
in that State in 1780, under Captain Wilder of Gill's regiment;
was eighteen or twenty months in Captain Warner's company in
Colonel Craft's Artillery. He was three years in the Continental
service in Captain Hitchcock's and Captain Mills's companies.
Though not given in the above list, Mr. Lincoln says that serving
with Mr. Gardner in the Continental service were Joshua Tower,

LiriiniM^V'"-''- - ^" •- — "^— — -^ ^^.^.MM.^,^.^^,c..^M,,.,i^>i^*^ti^..^,.^^

814 Eistory of Hingham.

killed at Horrisania; Jack ^ a negro, killed also in New

York ; James Bates, and James Havward, who both died at West
Point; Solomon Loring; and John Daniels.

During this year (1777) the disastrous battle at the Brandjwine
was fought. It was the 11th September, a hot, windy day, the
air filled with dust to which clouds of smoke were soon added,
when the American Army under Washington made its stand
against Howe, with the hope of a victory which might s^ve the
capital. The mistakes of General Sullivan, the losses of Wayne,
the skill of Green in checking the enemy, the heavy losses of the
patriots and tlie final retreat to Germantown, are matters of his-
tory. Among the troops engaged in this unfortunate affair was
Colonel Crane's famous regiment of artillery from Massachu-
setts, one of whose companies was commanded by David Briant^ a
brave officer, who received a mortal wound and died tlie next day.
Upon the fall of Captain Briant the command devolved upon
Lieut. Joseph Andi-ews, of Hingham, who, although wounded,
continued to serve his guns with great courage for an hour longer,
when he, too, was mortally wounded by a caimon-ball,and died on
November 22d following, after great suffering, aged twenty years.
More than forty years afterwards Lafayette, who was himself
wounded at the same time, spoke of Lieutenant Audrews*8 per^
sistcnt bravery. Besides Lieutenant Andrews there were frqm
Hingham in this company, Caleb Bates, a sergeant, also killed in
the battle ; Levi Bicknell, wounded ; Nathaniel Stoddard, Samuel
Bicknell, Elijah Gardner, Thomas Gushing, and William Sprague,
who were in the engagement, and Bela Leavitt, Luther Lincoln,
and Caleb Lincoln, then with the Northern Army.

Following Brandywine and the later repulse at Germantown
came the terrible winter at Valley Forge, with its sufferings and
privations. In the bitter experiences of that encampment many
of the Continental soldiers from Hingham participated. The his-
tory of the Massachusetts regiments is their history, and wher-
ever the names of the Jacksons, Greaton, Wigglesworth, Rufus
Putnam, Crane, Aldcn, Bayley, Marshall, Bigclow, and Patterson
appear leading their commands in victory, caring for them in
privation, cheering them in defeat, there will be found filling
their ranks, carrying out their orders, and standing with them in
the heat of battle, the sturdy citizens of Hingham who enlisted
*'^ for the war.'' A number of the Continental soldiers in the lists
given were subsequently promoted and held commissions in the
service ; their names and rank will appear hereafter.

In 1778 the Committee of Safety were Thomas Burr, Jacob
Leavitt, Abel Herscy, Enoch Whiton, and Peter Hobart.

The constant fear of a return of the English to Boston, and the
necessity of providing against pillaging and foraging incursions
into the country along the coast, required the exercise of unceas-
ing vigilance on the part of the State and local authorities. How

S5i^E^5wiBfiBM

MilUary HUtory.

815

cheerfully and faithfollj Massachusetts performed her duty in
this as in her every relation to the Revolutionary struggle is
known to all familiar with American histoiy, yet it may not be
amiss to recall that when Congress voted to raise eighty-eight
regiments, of which this State's quota was fifteen, sixteen were
enlisted besides Crane's fine regiment of artillery, — a number
soon after augmented by two additional regiments and Ar-
mand's artillery legion, Congress having determined to raise six-
teen additional battalions, — and that one half the whole burden
of Uio war, as measured by the numbers of men furnished the
Continental ranks, was borne by her. Based upon annual terms
of service, Massachusetts had 67,907 men in the army, besides
many thousands in her own pay for New England and purely
local defence. Her militia was frequently in active service, and
she was obliged to maintain constantly a force sufficient to garri-
son the posts within her territory. Among these, as previously
remarked, were the defences at Nantasket, and upon Hingham
a large part of this duty devolved throughout the war. Major
Thomas Lothrop was in command in 1778, and under date (rf
February 27 we have a roll of Capt. Peter Cushing's Company
then on duty there. It is as follows : —

Peter Cushing, Capt.
Noah Hearsey, Sergt.
Thomas Jones, ^
Samuel Hobart, ^
Daniel Cushing, ^
Daniel Hobart, Corp.
David Burr, "
David Beal, Jun "^
Zadock Hearsey Drum,
David Andrews, Private,
Lot Lincoln,
Enoch Stodder,
Tho» Waterman,
Bcnj" Stowel,
Bradford Hearsey,
Wellcom Lincoln,
Jesse Bate,
Job Lincoln,
Natf* Gill,
Jacob Beal,
Jon' Lincoln,
Seth Lincoln,
Joseph Hamen,

u
u
u
u

Nath" Fearine,
Joshua Lincoln^
John Gill,
Will- Hobart,
Abel Fearing,
Caleb Hobart,
John Jones,
Isaac Gardner,
Isaiah Hearsey^
Abijah Hearsey,
Jeremiah Hearsey,
Shubael Fearing,
Benj. Jacob,
Jeremiah Sprague,
Benj" Joy,
Joseph Mansfield,
Laban Hunt,
Noah Stodder,
Reuben Stephenson,
Peter Loring,
Tho» Cushing,
Hawkes Fearing,

Private,

u
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tf
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt

t
»

Early in this year also we find Lieut. Jabez Wilder with a num-
ber of men forming a part of the garrison. The date is the same

■MMH^^MrtrtiMiiii*H^MhM^M«M;rfi^ii««M»aia«iaatfUiHtt«rtddlAiiydtfi^^

816 HUtary of

as the last, February 27, and the roll terms the command ^ ^ half
company.** The names given are — ^

Lt Jabez Wilder, Theoph. Wilder, James Tower,

Edward Wilder, Theoph. Gushing, Solomon Whiton,

Thomas Gushing, Abel Whiton, Benj. Ward,

David Gardner, Labin Tower, David Ghubbuck,

Zenas Wilder, Robert Gardnier, Jonathan Farron,

John Hearsej, Zach. Whitou, Benj. Whiton.

Seth Stowars, Bela Tower,

Jabez Wil^^^^Y ^^^ ^^ & brother of Gapt. Theophilus Wilder,
subsequently held the rank of captain, being commander of the
third company of the Second Suffolk Regiment. He resided ou
Free Street, near Main, and after the war moved to Chesterfield.

Gaptain WildcFs company was ordered to Hull soon after, and
his roll in April contains the following names : —

Theophilus Wilder, Gapt Benj. Whiton, Private,

Theophilus Gushing, Sergt Jona. Loring,

4ft
U
M

a
fti

Thomas Jones, ^^ Joseph Mansfield^

Elisha Marsh, ^ Benj. Joy,

Bela Tower, Fifer, Jona. Loring, Jr.

Tbos. Gushing, Gorp. Benj. Gushing,

Joseph BeaU '^ Joseph Souther, ^

David Lincoln, Private, John Wilcutt, ^

Martin Tower, ** Mordecai Lincoln, **

Enoch Stoddar, ** John Hunt, *•

Sliubael Fearing, *^ Zachariah Hunt,

Abel Fearing, ^* Ephraim Burrell,

John Jones, *' Eben*r Joy,

Elijah Lewis, *^ Laban Gushing,

Solomon Whiton, ** John Wild.

ftC

ftft
u
fti

Although a Hingham company, a few of the above may have
been residents of Weymouth or Gohasset.

Tlie following return of the selectmen tells the story of the
manner in which quotas were sometimes filled in those days, as
well as a good many .years later.

** A return of the men procured by the town of Hingham to
make up their quota of the seventh part of the male inhabitants
of said town : —

John Murphy, May, 1778, Greaton's Reg*,
Patrick Duni\ June, 1778, GoL Granc's,
Lieney Gesbuct, <*****«

Israel Beal 1

Theo' Gushing > Selectmen qf HtngTum.

Gha' Gushing )

David Gushing, Colo."

Military HiMtary. 817

Tlie same officers make another return, showing that Nathan
Thisining enlisted in Col. Henley's regiment in May, while in
June,

Jaspar Mason, Esriglolm Millery,

Christian Rouschorn, Jonas Foughel,

Conrad Workman, Peter Duslien,

Frederick Gatcman, Amada Bourdon,

John Dager, Frederick Bower,

Joseph Teot or Scot, John Rodsfell,

John Wielele, Christopher Creigor,

as Hingham men swore to uphold the Republic in Col. Crane^s
Artillery. It is difficult to avoid a slight suspicion that these
men may have been a part of the deserting Hessians from Bur-
goyne's army, whose enlistment by Massachusetts called forth:
vigorous remonstrance from Washington, and soon ceased. The
town fathers appear to have been at least not deficient in shrewd*
ncss, however, for these recruits were engaged for tliree years
and credited to Hingham for the long term although the period'
required under the call of Congress at that time was only nine
months. luct us hope that these swiftly made citizens and eager
patriots upheld the honor of the town while serving under their
new colors.

In July of this year, the French fleet under D'Estaing appeared
off Newport, and the Admiral and Gen. Sullivan, who commanded
in Rhode Island, prc])ared to drive the enemy from the State.
Two Continental brigades from the main army was sent under
Lafayette, and the Massachusetts militia marched under John
Hancock as Major-General, at the same time. The whole force
numbered ten thousand men, and great hopes were entertained of
its success. They were doomed to be disappointed, however, and
after nearly a month of fruitless delays, the Americans evacuated
the island after having fought one unsatisfactory battle. The
following Hingham men took part in the attempt: —

Benj. Jacob, Thos. Joy,

Elijah Lewis, Japath Hobart,

Benj. Joy, Moses Whiton,

Kent Simmonds, Jonathan Gardner.

They were probably members of a company of which John
Lincoln was a lieutenant, and were paid by the town £ 122.

Hon. Solomon Lincoln says there were nineteen other Hingham
men engaged six weeks in Rhode Island, and also twenty-two in
a Capt. Baxter's company for the same length of time. The
names of the latter are here given : —

Zachariah Whiton, 2 Lieut., Able Whiton,

Robert Gardner, Serg't, Jonathan Farrar,

Ambross Bates, ^^ Levit Lane,

Jacob Joy, Thomas Willder,

MttBMHMHi

iMMlikiii

iMttriHliM^iMilfaiicai

^im

ri 111 BiiTnimiMBirfnr r-^

818

Histarjf of Bingham.

Robart Willder,
Isaiah Hearsej,
Gushing Burr,
Ruben Hearsej,
Charls Burr,
Canterbury Bams,
Daniel Wilder,
Thomas Stodder,

Stephen Stodder,
Isaac (?) Whiton,
Elishe Whiton, '
James Stodder,
Cornclus Bates,
Zebulon Willcutt,
Jacob Lincoru.

Captain Baxter was from Braiutree, from which town also came
a large part of his company. Lieut Whiton subsequently appears
to have become a captain, and is spoken of with distinction in
Thacher's ^^ Military Journal/' Colonel Mcintosh commanded
the regiment.

Tlie Dorchester Heights works were also garrisoned by a com-
pany consisting of thirty four men, under Capt. Elias Whiton for
three months. Captain Wliiton, who early in the war had also served
as lieutenant in Capt. Pyam Cushing's company when stationed at
Dorchester, was taken with the small-pox and died in the service,
aged thirty-five years. Almost at the same time Captain WhitoD*8
elder brother, Capt Enoch Whiton, who also had commanded
a company in the Revolution died, aged forty-five years. A third
brother, Elijah, was a soldier in the same war. They were all
residents of South Hingham, near Liberty Plain. The town- re-
cords show that the thirty-four men were paid out of the town trea-
sury X402-2 for their services. The company belonged to Colonel
Lyman's regiment of Guards ; its roll was —

Elias Whiton, Capt.
Zachariah Whiton, Lieut,
Samuel Hobart,
John Gushing,
Thomas King,
James Tower,
Joshua Stowel,
David Gardner,
Ezekiel Hearsey,
John Hearsey,
Thomas Chubbuck,
Jonathan Gardner,
Caleb Leavitt,
David Lamman,
John Hobart,
Benj" Stowel,
Nehemiah Hobart,

Jon^ Hobart,
Joshua Beals,
Will" Hobart,
Tliomas Sprague,
Samuel Leavitt,
Thomas Joy,
Abel Whiton,
Jacob Dunbar,
Peter Tower,
Jonathan Farrow,
Jeremiah Gardner,
David Chubbuck,
David Loring,
LaJ^an Tower,
Seth Wilder,
Esquir Hook.

After the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, Oct 17, 1777,
his army was conducted to Boston, and quartered at Cambridge,
where it remained until November, 1779. During the intervening
period the duty of furnishing guards devolved largely upon the
militia of Massachusetts, and of this, Hingham had a full share.

Adb

,-^^^i^.

mm^^^^aMUtt

Military Histanf.

819

It in not possible to give accurate lists of the men engaged in this
and tiie similar service of caring for and protecting tibe Continen-
tal stores at Boston and Watertown, so imperfect are the rolls.
The town recofds contain items of payments to men recruited for
these purposes. One, in 1778, would seem to indicate that there
were seven of our townsmen with Capt Benjamin Beal, but ^ a
paj abstract of Capt. Benj. Beal company of militia and Col. Jacob
Garish (rcgt) Drafted in July 1778, to Guard the Troops of Con-
vention and the Stores In and About Boston** contains the
following names of undoubted citizens. The regiment was Colonel
Gerrish's.

Benj. Beal, Capt.,
Peter Dunbar, Lieut.,
Joshua Beal, Sergt.,
Caleb Marsh, Corp.,
David Hearsey, Drum,
Joseph Hobbard,
Stephen Mansfield,

Moses Gardner,
Joshua Stowell,
Jedediah Joy,
Seth Wilder,
Daniel Dunbar,
Hosea Dunbar,
Melzer Dunbar.

Also ^ Capt Benj. Lapham Compy in Col. John Reeds Begt,
in service of the United States, at Cambridge, taken from 2 April,
1778, to July 3, 1778,'* has upon its roll : —

Jos. Tower, Sergt James Lewes,

Daniel Stodard, Corp., Rich^ Tower.

The town disbursements for the year contain items for tlie pay-
ment of three men employed in guarding Continental stores, nearly
three months, twenty men ^^ for guarding Gen^ Burgoynes army,
at Cambridge, 4 months & 26 days," ^^ to 11 men for Guarding
the Continental Stores in Boston 2 months 11 days."

At the town meeting held in February, there was a tax laid of
£2S10 of wliich X495-7-2 was for the procuring of Continental
soldiers, for three years ; £1274-12-10 for paying the men em-
ployed in the expedition against General Burgoyne; £800 for
guarding General Burgoyne's army at Cambridge, and £300 for
defraying the usual expenses of the town. Subsequently we find
Joshua Leavitt paid for a gun lent the town, and Jacob Leavittfor
painting the carriage and wheels of the cannon ; also David Beal for
assisting in transporting powder from Watertown to Hingham.
There are, besides these, payments to Capts. Benj. Lapham, Elias
Whiten, and Peter Gushing, for serving as committees to hire
soldiers.

There is a roll of Captain Stowers* company showing service from
August to November of this year; the location of its employment
is not indicated, but its roll contains, in addition to the names
given as mcm1)ers of the same command, in August, 1776, the
following: —

Sam'l Stodder, Daniel Beal,

Reuben Stodder, Thos. Lincoln,

*^-^-^^ '-' ^

WW iirriiri w

MaitAi^imktttimi 1 rfii ii ' .^iiiaiiaiiMiii— ^

tftti

820

History of Hingham.

Job Mansfield,
Stephen Whiton,
Benj. Barnes, Jr^
Luke Orcutt,

Jacob Whiten^
Caleb LeaTitt,
Enoch LeaTitt

October 1, 1778, General Lafayette was in Hingham and lodged,
with his servant, at the Anchor Tavern, then standing npon the
present location of Mr. William 0. Lincoln's house, on South Street,
and a favorite resort of the French officers at Nantasket. It was a
famous hostelry in its day, and was occupied as a private dwelling by
Governor Andrew in the early part of the Civil War. Lafayette
was on his way to Hull, where he was going to inspect the fortifi-
cations at that place. He was dressed in a blue coat with buff
trimmings, the regular uniform of an American officer, and at-
tracted much attention. Upon the news of his death many years
after, all the bells in town were rung.

Among other curious documents in the State House are certain
inventories showing the amount of clothing received from the
several towns for the public service. One, dated Dec. 17th, 1778,
shows that Hingham furnished 128 shirts, 69 pairs of shoes, and
102 pairs of stockings ;;. being much more than by any other town
in the county with the exception of Boston.

The great difficulty of ascertaining precisely the date of en-
listment of many of those who entered the Continental service
has been intimated. In addition to the names previously given,
the following would seem to have entered Uie army in 1778 : —

Captain

Colonel

Alexander Atkins, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson,

Gershom Beal,

Winship,

Putnam,

Caesar Blake,

Alden,

Bayley,

Maxitinde Basasobel, Boston,

Allen,

Alden,

Thomas Burke,

Langdon,

Jackson,

Caleb Bates (killed).

Burbeck,

Crane's ArtiL,

Simeon Butler,

Langdon,

JacksoU;'

Wm. Booding,

Ezckiel Bragdon, Braxton,

Lane,

Nixon,

Abel Gushing,

Shepard,

Isaac Crosby, Waltham,

Lane,

Alden,

John Carter, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson,

Ronald Cameron, **

Wra. Clarke, Pownalboro,

Bayley,

John Clark,

James Dishet,

Perez Gardner,

Vose,

Isaac Gardner,

«4

Jesse Humphrey,

Williams,

Greaton,

Joseph Hobart,

Pilsbury,

Wigglesworth,

Daniel Hearsey,

Light

Horse,

Peter Husen, Boston,

Langdon,

Jackson,

•

Military Hilary.

CapUlB

Cokad

Luther Lincoln,

Briant,

Crane,

John Mansfield (dead),

Bayley,

Ebenezer Riplej,

Cesar Scott,

Alden,

Moses Stoddar,

Joseph Wilcott

Burbeck,

Crane.

821

In September of 1778 General Lincoln was placed in command
of the department of the South. A brief account has already been
given of his persistent efforts to raise an army, and of the long
struggle for supremacy which finally terminated at Charleston,
in May, 1780, by the surrender of the town, with the garrison, to
Sir Henry Clinton.

The Committee of Safety in 1779 were Samuel Norton, Dr.
Thomas Thaxter, Capt. Thcophiliis Wilder, Capt. Charles Cashing,
and Joseph Thaxter.

The military service performed by Hingham men daring this
Year wns very considerable, besides that rendered by the soldiers of
tlie Coutiiient4il regiments with Washington and elsewhere, but the
records are so incomplete that but little detail can be given. The
English evacuated Rhode Island in the autumn of 1779, but they
had no intention of )>ermnnently abandoning the State, and the
fear of their return necessitated the employment of a considerable
American force for its defence until the close of the war.

A pay roll for Deceralxsr, 1779, of Capt. Luke Howell's company
in Col. Natlian Tyler^s regiment, on duty in Rhode Island, contains
the names of the following Hingham men : —

John Lincoln, Lieut, Jonathan Farrow, Jr., Private,

Ezckiel Hersey, Drum, Jacob Whitton, ^

Elijah Lewis, Private, William Gardner, ^

Elisha Reals, '' Nathaniel Rates, "<

Jonathan Farrow, ^

In the same State there were six men in Capt. Job Cushing't
command, and seven men for five months in the company in which
Jacobs was a lieutenant

There were also four men engaged upon guard duty at Roston,
; who were probably Robert Gardner, Jonathan Gardner, Elijah

i Whiton, Jr., and James Hay ward. They certainly received pay

from the town for service in Roston this year.

Lieut Elijah Real, who resided at West Hingham and who at
the time was about twenty-nine yeai*s of age, was stationed at
Claverack, New York, with fifteen of his townsmen. Efforts to
ascertain tlieir names have not met witli success.

This year, too, saw Capt Theophilus Wilder adding active
military duty to the service he was giving his country in the
support of the war as a civilian, and again we find him with

TOL. 1. — 21

I l ll i I V- • ^- — — *.^^r.i«-intii,.i.',. i.A.'.^^^'k.^..

822 IKttory o/ Hingham.

his company, this time containing eighteen Hingham patqots, in
the fort at Hull. Tliis roll, like several others of 1779, has not
been found. Hon. Solomon Lincoln states that Lieut. John Lin-
coln commanded a company at Rhode Island in Webb*s regiment
from Sept. 1, 1779, to Jan. 1, 1780, in which were several soldiers
from Hingham.

The records preserve the names of only the following as enlist-
ing in the Continental service during 1779 ; they appear to be
re-enlistments : —

James Cook, Capt. Bradford, Col. Bayley,

Joseph Stockbridge, ** "

Jacob Gardner, Col. Greaton.

•

The town appropriations for war purposes had by this time be-
come very large, alUiough it must not be forgotten that they were
in a very much depreciated currency.

In October it was voted to ^^ raise £6000 for the purpose of
paying the soldiers that went to do duty in the State of New
York." The following indicate services not otherwise recorded :

To Zach^. Whiten for hit service to Khode Island in 1778 £41-17

To Jotham Loring for his service in Canada omitted £18.

There were also payments for large amounts of beef and salt
purchased for the soldiers, and as in every other year of the war,
generous sums were voted for soldiers' families. We have these
records also : —

To Jon? Hearsey towards his service at Rhode Island £22- 0-0

To David Hearsey for !>• 39- 2-6

To Elisha Beal for D* 86-17-0

To Eiek' Hearsey for D* 44-18-H.

The names of four more of Hingham's soldiers are thus indi-
cated, although no light is thrown on the particular expedition in
which they served.

Perhaps no better examples can be selected to illustrate the ex-
traordinary depreciation of the paper currency than the following:

To Capt Seth Stowers foi 7 Bush' Com for the Soldiers who

went to Rhode Island £68-0-0

To Bradford Hearsey for a pf shoes to Hosea Stodder £4-4-9.

In July an expedition against the British post at Penobscot was
fitted out by Massachusetts. Colonel Lovell, who sometime before
had become a brigadier-general in the militia, was one of the com-
manders, and, as already said, the brig " Hazard " which took part
in the expedition, had a number of Hingham men in her crew.
Upon the promotion of Colonel Lovell, which took place in 1777,
David Cushing of Hingham became colonel ; Thomas Lothrop of

uM«a

MUliMifcll

iriaiittk

iiiiiinii

824

History of Hingham.

instance at least, enlisted her quota for three years. Indeed, meet
of the men joiniug4he Continental service and credited to Hing-
ham were for the long term, and many have against tlieir names
the large letters " D. W.,** which mean " During the War.'' The
following, however, joined the army for six months, '^ agreeable
to a resolve of the General Court of the fifth of June," 1780 : Lot
Lincoln, Jesse Humphrey; James Bates, Daniel Woodward, Levi
Gardner, Ezekicl Gushing, Leavitt Lane. They were sent to
Springfield, and thence to the army under Captain Soaper, Cap-
tain Burba nk, and Lieutenant Gary, in July, August, and October.
Mr. Lincoln says that there were also five men on dnty as guards
at Boston.

At a town meeting held on the 13th of June it was voted to
raise thirty thousand pounds toward paying the soldiers, and four
thousand pounds to purchase clothing for the Continental army.

The town records also show larse sums of money paid for beef,
blankets, wood, corn, etc., supplied the arm}* upon requisition
from the State. In one instance, however, the Genend Court
threatened a fine of twenty per cent if a requisition was not
promptly responded to ; and the town voted ^^ to comply, provided
it be not brought as a precedent in future time;'* this was in the
year 1781.

Tliis latter year Samuel Norton, Capt. Charles Gushing, HeQian
Lincoln, Capt. Peter Gushing, and Elisha Gushing, Jr., were
chosen as the Committee of Correspondence.

Under a resolve of the General Court passed December 2, the
following enlisted into the Continental 8er\'ice for three years, or
the war ; the bounties paid are also given : —

Henry Shepperd
John Daniels
Lewes Freeman
Emmuel Busson
James Cook

JC57
108

61-4

Tliomas Lightfoot
Reuben Wright
Amos Adams
Francis Comer

£60
65-10
61-12
68

The following furnishes an illustration of the means by which
some of these men were secured : —

HlXGHAM, Dec. 84, 1781.

These may certiiie that I the Subscriber Hired Emmuel Busseo for the
dass whereof I am Chairman & that He passed muster the 8*^ day of No-
vemb' post, and that He engaged to Serve tliree years in the Continental
Army ; also that I gave Sixty pounds for his so engaging in Hard money.

John Thaxteb.

Others enlisting this year and receiving a bounty were —

Isaac Gardner,

Juba or Tuba Freeman,

Absolum Davis,

Jack Freeman,
Benj* Jacobs,
Ciesar Blake,

lUiidUuiatMaiiiMkririitainiMtidMhftaiMiAaiUhri^

826 Huiory of Hingham. ^^ ^ ^ •

The capitulation of Comwallis was the last great militarj event
of the Revolution. Nevertheless, much of the country was still
occupied by the British army, and besides the necessity of gain-
ing and holding possession of those portions, there remained the
possibility of renewed hostilities, requiring the retention of a con-
siderable force. On the second of November the armv under
General Lincoln embarked at Yorktown and proceeded to the
head of the Elk, from whence it went into winter quarters in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and upon the Hudson, in New York.

The Committee of Correspondence and Safety elected in 1782
wete Israel Beal, John Fearing, and Theophilus Cushing; they
were re-elected in 1788.

Tlie probabilities of peace made the enlistment of soldiers ex-
ceedingly difficult, and there were very few recruited after the
close of the Virginia campaign. The only names of recruits
known to have joined the Continental army in 1782 are Solomon
Lavingin and Elijah Seals.

Hon. Solomon Lincoln says that in 1783 there were twelve men
in the service at Hull. Neither the date nor the organization to
which they belonged have been preserved, and no list of these last
soldiers in the Revolution from old Hingham has been found.

There remain to be added a few names not hitherto placed,
known to have served in the army in some capacity, but whose
company or regiment, plac^, or time, have not been ascertained.
Tliese are —

Jedediah Beal, ' Beta Lincoln, served on the '^ Pro-

Daniel Dill, tector,**

Lemuel Dill, Benjamin Lincoln,

Daniel Egrey, Noah Nichols,

Francis Gardner, died 1780 on Moses Sprague, '

Jersey prison-ship, Jacob Sprague, carried to Halifax
Jared Joy, and died on guard-ship, 1778,

Benjamin Leavitt, Ebed Stodder,

Scth Thaxter.

Serving upon the staff of General Lincoln during the earlier
part of the war as an aid-de-camp, and probably with the rank
of colonel, was Nathan Rice. Colonel Rice came early to Hing-
ham, where he resided many years. At the close of the war he
was major in Colonel Bailey's Continental regiment, and subse-
quently commanded a body of troops at Oxford during the threat-
ened difficulties with France.

From the lists of names given, it appears that Hingham fur-
nished over one hundred and fifty different persons to the regular
Continental service, of whom, however, it is probable that only
about eighty were actual residents of the town. The commis-
sioned officers, so far as known, were, —

L_julmjxji-iiijiJL:n^jjji iii i -— — >— ^.^....^.^..^ .^. . .-■*., t^„ >m»i., .■- n -,1 ■ ^

828 History of HinghanL ^

or place of enlistment of the men composing it being in^no case
stated ; and the doubt in this instance is of sufficient importance
to make it unsafe to credit the town with any of them. It is
quite probable, too, that numbers of our citizens served in some
of the various armed ships authorized by Congress or the Common-
wealth, but of other than those given as u])on the '^ Hazard " and
*^ Protector/* if such there were, no satisfactory records are
known. Very many, if not most, of the soldiers from Hingham
served on several different occasions during the war; and not a
few enlisted or were called out four, five, and six times, while the
indisputable evidence furnished by existing rolls proves that
several responded to no less than eight calls to duty in garri-
son and camp. In a few instances the periods of service were
short, being comprehended in a few days, but for the most part
they extended over many months, embracing the year consumed
in the siege of Boston, the time occupied in the campaigns iu
Canada, in the northern department against Burgoyne, in the
operations near West Point, those around New York, the several
Rhode Island expeditions, that to the Penobscot, a part of Wash-
ington's first campaign in New Jersey, and the many months,
aggregating several years, of garrison duty at Hull, besides that
performed in Hingham itself while the town was a military post.
It is impossible to reduce the whole to a standard of number of
men serving for a stated time, but if every different ser\'ice'had
been performed by different individuals, the aggregate outside of
those in the regular tliree-ycars regiments would probably exceed
one thousand.

As observed previously, it seems reasonable to estimate the
different individuals as about six hundred in number ; indeed, the
preserved rolls name some five hundred and seventy. Of these,
approximately, the Lincolns furnished forty-eight ; the Cushings,
thirty-seven ; the Beals, thirty ; the Whitens, including all the
variations of spelling the name, thirty ; the Stoddars, Stodders,
Stoddards, Stodars, twenty-five; the Hcarseys, Harseys; Herseys,
twenty-four; the Gardners, twenty-one; the Hobarts, nineteen;
the Towers, sixteen ; the Lorings, fifteen ; the Bateses, fifteen ; the
Burrs, thirteen ; the Spragues, thirteen ; the Wilders, thirteen ;
the Dunbars, eleven ; the teavitts, eleven ; the Lewises, eleven ;
the Stowells, ten ; the Joys, ten ; the Fearings, eight ; the Lanes,
eight ; the Tliaxters, seven ; the Barneses, seven ; and the Marshes,
seven. That is two dozen names of the soldiers from Hingham
included four hundred and nine individuals. Tlie Hingham officers
of Continental regiments have already been named; those in other
branches of the service, as far as known, were —

Major-Gen. Benjamin Lincoln (before his Continental commission),
Capt. Benjamin Beal, Capt Peter Gushing,

" Charles Gushing, " Pyam Gushing,

^ Job Gushing, ^ Isaiah Gushing,

- -T^lf^'" --'^^-•-•- ■ •>.->-. ^■•^■i.....w^w.^^.^.,^^-^^^,^t..^^.L^.^.,*,,aiaMyaj^.^^

880 Histarjf of Hinghanu

the 4th of December following, Washington bid farewell to the
comrades who for eight years had with him patiently ancT bravely
endured the dangers and privations of the field and the camp.
At about the same time General Lincoln resigned his office of
Secretary of War and retired to private life. From the opening
hour of the Revolution to its closing moment, tlie roll of Hing-
ham's drums and the inspiring music of her fifes had echo^
through her streets and been heard on many a weary march,
while the rattle of musketry and the dull roar of artillery served
by her children had testified to her unflinching and unwearying
patriotism on land and sea. Beneath the kindly enshrouding soil
in secluded shady and forgotten places, from Canada to the
Potomac, rest those who laid their young lives down in the heat
of the conflict, while many an old moss-grown stone in the town
cemeteries marks the burial spot of some soldier who in the early
days of the nation ^^ shouldered his crutch and told how fields
were won," to his children and grandchildren long after the close
of the War for Independence. *

While with the advent of peace there doubtless came that
reaction from interest in military matters which is common to
all human affairs where the undivided attention has been too long
fixed in a single direction, there was still, fortunately, enougli
patriotism left in the wearied people to listen to the urgent' sug-
gestions of Washington, and in a small regular army and the
West Point establishment, provide a nucleus at least, around
which might be gathered the forces for the defence of the young
nation. Many of the statutes under which the armies were gath-
ered and the militia governed still remained in force, and these
derived powerful support from the dangerous and threatening con-
dition of a number of the Indian tribes, from the menace which tlie
continued occupancy in the West and North of posts and forts hy
the British constantly offered, and from the ill-concealed contempt
felt by the empires of the world for the small, weak, and exhausted
State in the Western Hemisphere. More than all, there was the
internal discontent and distrust experienced by a weary and
debt-laden people entering upon the experiment of new forms of
government towards which many were antagonistic, and in whicli a
large number had little faith. To all this must be added the bitter
disappointment of the discharged and half-paid soldiery, who, after
giving eight of their best years to the service of the country,
found themselves adrift, poverty-stricken, and for a time, at least,
neglected. Fortunately, for the most part these men were Fed-
eralists, and believers in and supporters of their old officers,
more particularly of Washington, and were generally friends of a
strong government and a national spirit. Fortunately, too, the
militia organization for the most part remained intact, and many
a fine regiment which had seen active service during the war was
still under the command of its old officers, and in the ranks were

MitfMiittUitoA

MiittifiiAiMHifiiifiiNAiiiBaMii

tfk«iiJiAMk«6MiMttbAiMh^iAiUMi

ACiiMiilMUMtf^Ml

882

Levi Sprague:

Ensign . . .

LieuteDant . .
Seth Hersey:

Lieutenant • .
Nebemiah Gushing :

Lieutenant . .
Joseph Gushing:

Ensign . . .

Lieutenant • .
Elijah Waters, Jr.:

Ensign . . .

Lieutenant . .

Gaptain . . .
Rnfus Lane:

Ensign . . .
Jonathan Cuahing:

Ensign . . .

Lieutenant . •
David Whiten:

Ensign . . .

Lieutenant . .
Joseph Hammond:

HUtorjf of Hinghanu

ipE

.nsign . . .
Martin Fearing:
Ensign • . .

April 10, 1806
May 13, 1809.

April 13, 1807.

March 28, 1807

Sept 26, 1811.
April 15, 1812.

March 3, 1788.
May 2, 1797.
May 7, 1799.

May 23, 1792.

May 3, 1796.
Sept. 3, 1800.

Sept. 3, 1800.
April 12, 1804.

April 11, 1803.

Oct. 26, 1809.

Lieutenant .

Captain . .

Major . . .
Edward Wilder:

Lieutenant •

Captain • •
Thomas Andrews:

Lieutenant .
Francis Thazter:

Quartermaster
Ephraim Andrews:

Quartermaster
Thomas Loud:

Quartermaster
John Beale:

Adjutant • .
Laban Hersey:

Gaptain . .
Scarlet Hudson:

Lieutenant .
Edward Wilder, Jr.

EiiMgn . .
Moses Humphrey:

Ensign . .
Abner Hersey:

Gaptain • .

. Sept. 26, 1811.

April 15, 1812.

. June 18, 1814.

. March 3, 1788.
. May 3. 1796.

. Oct 23, 1788.

. Sept. 16, 1799.

. June 7, 1802.

. Oct 2, 1804.

. June 7, 1802.

. Sept. 28, 1800.

. April 11, 1803.

! March 28, 1807.

. April 23, 1807.

. Feb. 12, 1807.

In 1812 the Hingham Rifle Company received a cliarter frc*m
the State, and for many years it was one of the famous militia
organizations in the Commonwealth. Its first captain was Dun-
can McB. Thaxter, while the other officers were Jairus Spra^ue^
lieutenant, and Daniel Bassett, ensign, all commissioned May
21, 1812. It was subsequently attached to the Light Infantry
Battalion as Company D, although a part of the Second Regiment
until that organization was disbanded.

Early in October the company made its first public parade in a
uniform described in the " Boston Patriot " as " perfectly neat,**,
with ^^ rifles lately procured from an American armory of domestic
manufacture, with complete accoutrements.** On this occasion a
standard was presented on behalf of the ladies by Miss Mary
Lincoln, daughter of Mr. Solomon Lincoln, and accepted by Ensign
Daniel Bassett in a patriotic if somewhat grandiloquent speech.

Besides this company there were at this time the three stand-
ing militia companies belonging to the same regiment, and prob-
ably officered respectively as follows : Moses L. Humphrey, captain,
April 16, 1812; Samuel Hobart, lieutenant, April 16,1812; Nathan-
iel Wilder, ensign, April 16, 1816 ; Mai*tin Fearing, captain, April
15, 1812; Joseph Cushing, lieutenant, April 15, 1812; Adna
Cushing, ensign, April 15, 1812 ; Washington Cushing, captain,
March 28, 1807; Joseph Wilder, ensign, May 11, 1812. Tlie
regiment was the Second Infantry, of which Nehemiah Ripley
became quartermaster March 30, 1812 ; Thomas Loring, pay-
master, March 25, 1812; Ned Cushing, adjutant, March 20, 1><V2
(he had previously been paymaster), and William Gordon, sui^-

MUUary HUiarg. 888

^on, Feb. 10, 1818, while Henry Colman had been chaplain since
July 6, 1807. In addition to these the citizens exempted by law
from military duty formed themselves into three companies of
infantry and one of artillery, the whole constituting a local bat>
talion commanded by Gapt Edward Wilder. The North Ward
company had for its officers : captain. Gen. John Barlcer ; lieu-
tenant, Major Jedediah Lincoln ; ensign, Solomon Lincoln. The
Middle Ward : captain, Laban Hersey ; lieutenant, Capt. Solomon
Jones ; ensign, Lieut. John Fearing. South Ward : capfaun, Jona-
than Gushing ; lieutenant, Edward Wilder, Jr. ; ensign, Joseph
Wilder.

Tlie Artillery Gompany was commanded by Captain Tliomas
Brown, and the lieutenants were Ezra Lincoln and John
Hersey, Jr.

Ned Gushing was adjutant, and Ebenczer Gay paymaster of the
battalion, and Thomas Thaxter appears also to have been an
officer.

The Artillery had but one gtm, which was kept in the ensine-
house then standing on the land now occupied by Ford^s Building.

There is little to record of local history and military service
during the three years in which was fought the War of 1812.
Even the Gommonwealth possesses no rolls of the men who
served their country during this period, and neither tradition nor
private journals have contributed greatly to supplv the omission.

John Todd is known to have been killed at Sackett*s Harbor in
1813 ; and Alexander Gardner, of the same company, was wounded
at the time. The following also appear to have been soldiers in
this war, and some of them received pensions : —

Jesse Ghurchill, Bela Tower,

Enoch Gurtis^ Walter Whiton,

Allen Gushing, Gomelius Lincoln,

David Stoddar, Josiah Gardner,

Warren Stoddar, Matthew Stodder,

Ebcd Stoddar, Job S. Whiton,

Archelans Whiton, Peleg Dunbar,

Samuel Stoddar, Gonstant Gardnery

Luther Stoddar, Anthony Gardner,

Enoch Dunbar, Daniel Wilder.
David Gardner,

Joshua Blake, born in Hingharo, Sept. 27, 1778, died in Boston,
Dec. 23, 1843, was a lieutenant in the navy, and subsequently
served with Decatur during the trouble with Tripoli. He was a
son of Joseph Blake, who lived in the house on the comer of
Main and Elm streets, and who served with Major Samnd
Thaxter in the French War.

Charles Blake, known as Gapt. Gharles Blake, served upon a
privateer during a part of the war. He was captured and con-

Ljii:iiiiii_luii ■ rinr r^^ — —^~-~~^ .w,^ .^, ■^^.'^.

834

History of Bingham.

fined in Dartmoor Prison. Moses L. Humphrey commanded a
company composed, at least in part, of Hingham men, and stationed
at the Castle, now Fort Independence, in Boston harbor. Samnel
Stodder was in his command. Walter Whiton was bom Nov. 28^
1783 ; he was a major in the United States army, and was killed
at the battle of Bridgewater ; his home was at Liberty Plain.
Archelaus Whiton, or Whiting, enlisted from the frigate ^^ Con-
stitution *^ to go to the Lakes« and probably died in the expedi-
tion. Ebed Stoddar was taken prisoner and confined at Dartmoor
Prison, whence he escaped, but was never afterwards heard from.
Alexander Anderson was also confined at the same place.

During the War of 1812 most of the Hingham vessels were
hauled up in the town dock or at Broad Cove, excepting, how- '
ever, a few of the packets ; and some of these, it is said, had their
masts and spars removed, and after being towed up Weymouth
River, were boarded over and concealed in order to prevent their
being seized by the British. The sloop ^^ Washington *' was
launched when she was partly planked up, sufficiently so to float
her, the owners fearing that she would be burnt by excursion
parties from English ships then lying off Boston Light. At this
time numerous depredations were committed by parties of the
British ; one of them landed on Hog Island, in barges, and burned
a bam full of hay ; and other property in the vicinity was
destroyed.

There were several vessels belonging to Hingham captured and
destroyed by the enemy during the war ; among them was the
'* Emily,'' commanded by Capt. Barnabas Lincoln, and in part
owned by him. It was a sad sight for the old sailor, who at
another time had his vessel taken by pirates, to see the fine
ship, in which were the fruits of many years of toil, given to the
flame and the sea. Captain Lincoln was well treated npon the
English man-of-war, and was soon released and allowed to return
home. The schooner " Sally," always called the "Old Bull'* in
Hingham, was also captured and burned by the English cruisers;
she was commanded bv Capt. Samuel Stoddar. The crew were
all married men excepting Martin Beal, and were released. Beal^
being single, was taken to Dartmoor Prison, but through the
influence of Dr. Gordon's wife, who came from the vicinity, was
soon released.

Ebed Stoddar was in a Hingham vessel that was captured and
burnt. He was taken to Halifax and confined in Dartmoor
Prison, but e^^caped with others and took a small vessel to come
home in. It is said that he was never heard from afterwards,
and that the vessel was supposed to have foundered. Mr. Leavitt
Sprague, however, is authority for the statement that Ebed Stod-
dar afterward shipped on a privateer from New York and was
never heard from.

June 11, 1814, the town was alarmed by messengers with the
statement that the English ships lying off Cohasset were about to

Military Higiarjf.

885

land a force and commit depredations on the town. The Hing>
ham companies were hurried to the scene with the idea of repelling
the intended invasion. Whether because of the preparations for
defence or otherwise, the landing was not attempted, and the
enemjr soon withdrew. The companies, or at least a portion of
them, were detained a number of days at Cohasset, however.
Joseph J. Whiton was commissioned captain 16 August, 1818,
and a roll of his company which marched to Cohasset and was
on duty there the 11th and 12th of June, 1814, is now in posses-
sion of Mr. Seth S. Ilersey, and is as follows: —

u
il
u

Joseph J. Whiton. Captain,
Seth S. Hcrsey, Scrgt
Isaiah Wilder, "
Ezekiel Fearing, **
Bcla Hobart, "

Jacob Sprague, Musician,
Isaiah Tower,
Josiah Gardner,
Hosea Dunbar,
Charles Whiton, Private,
Nathaniel Hcrsey,
Stephen Gardner, Jr.
Samuel Gardner, Jr.
Silvanus Whiton,
Joseph Whiton,
Tlieophilus Whiton,
Charles L. Smith,
Labau Wilder,
Charles Gardner,
Luther Whiton,
Hosea Whiton,
Isaiah Whiton,
Daniel Whiton, Jr.
John Titterton,
Israel Sprague,
Henry Stoddard,
Lazarus Bowker,
Bela Thayer,
Robert D. Gardner,
Reuben Sprague, Jr.,

u
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u
u
u
u
u
u
u
cc
u
u
u

Enoch Dunbar, Jr., Private^

Samuel Dunbar,

Hawkes Hobart, Jr^

Joshua Tower,

Quincy Gardner,

Jesse Gardner,

Warren Gardner,

Hosea Gardner,

Constant Gardner,

Moses Tower,

Beuben Simmons,

Thomas Stockbridge,

Isaac Whiton,

Hosea Gushing, Jr.,

Benjamin Wilder,

Hosea Stoddard,

TiCavitt Tower,

Thomas Humphrey,

Jared Jemegan,

Daniel Shute, Jr.

Anthony Gardner,

Ebed Hobart,

Daniel Dill,

Josiah Chubbuck,

Silas Chipman,

John Shute,

Caleb Stoddard, Jr.

Jeremiah Gardner, Jr.

Warren Thayer,

tt
tt

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At the time of the alarm Ned Gushing was adjutant of the
Second Regiment ; he went into the Meeting-house during divine
service, and gave public notice of the news from Cohasset.

Jairus Lincoln, probably a soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill,
was jrenerally known as " Old Rodney.** He was impressed into
the British navy, and was under the command of Admiral Rodney

dk^MliliaHiliiMM

'' ^-^-^-^"^^^

tfMiitfUiiMi«taMi«MrigUW^^

836

History of Hingham.

when the fleet under that officer was engaged with the French
fleet under the Count De Grasse. ^

Wlien peace was at last declared the rejoicings in Hingham, as
in New England generally, were most enthusiastic. Stephen
Cushing came from Boston on horseback bringing the news. Mr.
Royal Whiton used to tell of Mr. Samuel Simmons coming to his
shop with a horse and sleigh, and of the two then riding through
the town proclaiming the news. '^ We went to South Hingham,
and all the way Mr. Simmons kept singing out at the top of his
voice, * Peace ! peace!' — he kept his voice going the whole dis-
tance." There was a collation at Gapt. Samuel Hobart*s, the
military paraded, the bells were rung, and in the evening bonfirea
were lighted on the hills and private dwellings illuminated. At
some of the public-houses the celebration was of quite as marked,
if different, character. It is said that Captain Hobart's House,
especially, was the scene of a gathering composed of many of the
leading wits and political lights of the town, and tliat the rejoic-
ings, which were carried far into the night, were quite worthy of
the great occasion.

For a time subsequent to tlie war little occurred of interest in
local military circles. The Rifles maintained their existence as
one of the crack companies of the day, and the standing companies
continued for a considerable period the usual existence of militia
organizations of the time*

The officers commissioned since 1812, excepting those already
mentioned, were —

William Grordon:

Surf^eon . . .
Daniel Shute, dd:

Sur^eonVMate
Joseph Cushing:

Captain . . ,

Major ....

Lieutenant-Col
Perez Lincoln:

Lieutenant . .

Captain . .
Jacob Cushing, Jr.:

Ensifi^n . .

Lieutenant . ,

Captain . . ,
Seth S. Hersey:

Lieutenant

Captain . •
Blossom Sprague:

Lieutenant .
John Thaxter:

£nsifn> • • •
Lieutenant . .
Samuel Fearing:
Ensign . .
Lieutenant .
Captain . .

Feb. 10, 1813.

April 21, 1816.

July 25, 1814.
Feb. 16, 1818
March 28, 1818.

June 25, 1717
May SI, 1819.

July 25. 1814.
March 5, 1818.
March 22, 1820.

May 16, 1814.
March 5, 1818.

March 21, 1816.

June 25, 1816.
May 31, 1819.

March 5, 1818.
March 22, 1820.
March 26, 1822.

James W. Sivret:

Lieutenant . . June 29, 1820

Seth Cushing, Jr.:

Ensign . . .
Cushing Leantt:

Ensign • . .
Joshua Tower:

Ensign . . .
Joseph Richardson:

Chaplain . . .
Henrr Tnaxter, Jr.:

Paymaster . .
Jairus Sprague:

Captain . . .
Samuel Hobart:

Captain . . .
Seth S. Hersey:

Captain . .
Adna Cushing :

Captain . .
Lazarus Bowker:

Ensign • •

Lieutenant •

Captain . .
Laban Hersey, Jr :

Ensign . .

Captain . .

March 5, 1818.

May 2, 1820.

Sept 25, 182a

AprU 20, 1816.

Nov. 7, 1817.

March 21, 1816.

June 25, 1817.

March 5, 1818.

March 5. 1818.

May 16, 1814.
^larch 5. 1818
June 29, 1820.

March 21, 1816.
April 12, 182a

nir^

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AfetlUilllh

iiatniifl >iriiiBiw

888

History of Hinghanu

coats and white trousers, similar to that worn bj the .poston
Fusileers.

In June, 1834, the Quincy Light Infantry visited ningham,and
was received by the Guards at the town line and escorted to the
Union Hotel, where the two companies dined. July 4, 1834« the
ladies presented a flag to the company at Captain Cazneau's house.
Miss Almira Seymour making the address. Afterwards there
was a dinner at the Old Colony House, and it is recorded tliat
twenty toasts were drunk. Oct. 9, 1834, the volunteer companies
of the First Brigade First Division of the militia assembled at
Uilton, near the Roxbury House, for inspection and review. In
addition to an artillery battalion, there were eight companies,
including the Hingham Rifles and the Washington Guards, com-'
prising a regiment commanded by Colonel Spooner. At that
time Captain Corbett commanded the Rifles and Captain Casneau
the Guards, between which organizations there was sharp rivalry.
The account says they made a fine appearance. Both companies
appear to have maintained their existence until the general dis-
bandment in 1843, at which time they were attached to the Third
Battalion of Light Infantry then or lately commanded by Colonel
Seymour. Joseph Jacobs, however, received a second commission
as Captain of the Guards, — then called Company O, — April 17,
1844, and he was not finally discharged until Feb. 12, 1846. The
following are additional commissions issued, generally, after the
formation of the Guards : —

Charles Gordon :

Surgeon's Mate
William White:

Paymaster
Charles Lane:

Colonel . .
John Stephensoo:

Ensign . .

Lieutenant .

1st Lieutenant

Captain . .
Ivery B. Gerry: '

Captain . .
Isaac G. Spragne:

Ensign . .

Lieutenant .
John C. Webb:

Ensign . .
Solomon L. Damon:

Ensign . .
Joshua Tower, Jr.:

Lieutenant . .

Captltin . . .
Lincoln B. Sprague:

Lieutenant . .
Enoch Whiting:

Ensign . . .
Caleb Heraey:

Lieutenant . .

Captain • . .

Sept. 27, 1830.

Sept 13, 1830.

June 28, 1830.

Sept. 2, 1833.
June 9, 1837.
May 18, 1840.
March 31, 1841.

May 3, 1838.

June 19, 1832.
Sept. 2, 1833.

March 13, 1834.

. March 18, 1834.

March 13, 1834.
May 3, 1836.

May 3, 1836.

Sept 14, 1836.

May 3, 1836.
May 7, 1839.

Benjamin S. >MiiUng

Lieutenant .
Thomas Corbett:

Ensign . .

Lieutenant .

Captain . .
Elijah L Whiton:

Ensign . .

Lieutenant .

1st Lieutenant
Charles Churchill:

Ensign . .

Lieutenant .
Edward Caznean:

Captain . .
John Todd:

3d Lieutenant

Quartermaster
Rufus Lane, Jr.:

3d Lieutenant

Paymaster .
Joseph Sprague:

2d Lieutenant

Adjutant
Joseph r. Bataon:

8d Lieutenant

2d Lieutenant
John C. Eldridge:

2d Lieutenant

May 7, 1839.

June 9, 1837.
Feb. 28, 1839.
Aug. 15, 1839.

June 10, 1837.
June 23, 1838.
18 May, 1840.

Feb. 28, 1839.
Aug. 15, 1839.

April 23, 1842.

April 5, 1841.
July 13, 1841.

May 18, 1840.
July 13, 1841.

May 18, 1840.
July 18, 1841.

Aug. 6. 1841.
April 28, 1842.

May 27t 184a

jMii^itoi^Mi^BiMiiMiiMiMiifti*>fc>fcflifcii^^ f \ i ri ft uf ii ri ii i i -ti ia

840 History of Hingham.

Lieut., while William Fearing was eboften 4tli Lieut. Th$ two
latter officers resigned subsequently.

July 4, 1855, the company had its first parade; and from that
date to the day of its disbandment in 1862, this last of the many
military organizations which had faitlifully served the country,
and kept bright the honor of the town, maintained the reputation
of its predecessors. At the opening of the Rebellion its com-
mander was Joseph T. Sprague; but its high standing was largely
due to its first captain, who had then recently become lieutenant-
colonel of the regiment. To the little armory where were kept
its arms, equipments, and colors, which had been the pleasant
gathering-place of its members and the scene of its drills and
instructions, came with sober faces, and probably heavy hearts,
the soldiers of the company on the afternoon of the 17th of April,
1861. The booming of the cannon across the bay of Charleston,
sounding the minute-guns of slavery's death-knell, left to the
townsmen of Benjamin Lincoln no alternative ; and in the great
march towards liberty which then commenced, the Hingham
which nestled in her bosom the sleeping remains of the heroes of
four wars knew no faltering. ^

Tlie voice of the great leader who had arisen was not strange
in her ears ; and as it reached the home of his ancestors and bade
the descendants of tlie Hobarts and Hcrseys and Cushings acid
Lincolns take up the old battle for freedom and give their lives
that others might live, the response was as in the days of Cliurch,
of Wolfe, and of Washington ; and the town whose forebears had
first settled down here at Bare Cove and given it the name of the
English home they had left, whose firstborn had helped subdue
Philip, whose sons ^^ went out '' against the French, and strove
with the Redcoats at Bunker Hill, through all the weary and sad
and disheartening days of the long contest gave freely and gen-
erously of her means, and honored many a southern battle-field
with tiie graves of her children. The details of the story can be
scarcely more than touched upon here; the briefly related facts
expand too greatly the limits of this chapter. In glancing back
at the history of this exciting period, we cannot repress a little
local pride in the recollection that the beloved President belonged,
at least in a sense, to the old town, being a descendant of the
Hinjifham Lincolns; that tlie Governor of the Commonwealth was
our own loved fellow-citizen ; that the company which upheld the
town's honor and continued her noble record of devotion to duty was
named after her great general, and its commander was descended
from the old soldiera of tlie Revolution; and that, moreover,
many of its members bore the honored names of ancestors who had
faced death at the cannon's mouth nearly a hundred years before, —
while the second officer of the regiment to which it was attached
was a grandson of the Hawkes Fearing who drew the Hingham
cannon to Hull in 1776, and a relation of Capt Thomas Fearing of
the Revolutionary army.

842

History of Uingham.

Henry F. Binney,
James B. Brvant,
John W. Burr,
Thomas A. Carver,
Silas H. Cobb,
Cliarles Corbett,
Jerry J. Corcoran,
Isaac M. Dow,
Levi H. Dow,
George Dunbar,
George W. Fearing,
Henry C. French,
Albert S. Haynes,
Edwin Hersey,
William H. Jacob,
William H. Jones, Jr.
Alfred A. Lincoln,
Daniel S. Lincoln,
William H. Marstou,

Jacob Ourish,
Albert L. Peirce, ^

Charles H. F. Stodder,
Demerick Stodder,
William Taylor,
Charles H. Damon, W. Scit
George C. D welly, Hanover,
Hosea Dwelly, **

Francis W. Everson, Weym*
Charles A. Gardner, W. Scit
Henry C. Gardner, **

John D. Gardner, "

Herbert Graves, **

William B. Harlow, H^nove
E. A. Jacob, West Scit

John H. Prouty, «* '

William Prouty, Jr., •* '
Alpiieus Thomas, South '

Two days after the departure of Lieutenant Stephenson wit!
men, a meeting of the citizens was held at the Town Hall fo
purpose of devising means for the relief of such families of i
bers of the company as might need as8ist4ince during its abs
Caleb Gill presided, and eight hundred dollara for the purpose
subscribed by |)ersons in the hall. It was the anniversary o\
battle of Lexington. On Sunday, the 28th, a large numh
ladies, under the general direction of Mrs. Solomon Lincoln,
in Masonic Hall, in Lincoln Building, for the purpose of ms
clothing to be sent to Hingham's company at Fortress Mo
April 30, Charles W. Cushing presided over a town raeetin
which six thousand dollars were appropriated to furnish sn^
to the families of those who had been, or thereafter shouU
called into the countrv's service. The Fourth Massachusettf
stationed a portion of its time at Newport News, and a portic
Hampton, from which last place it returned to Fortress Mc
on the expiration of its term of enlistment. It reached B<
July 19, and went into camp at Long Island. On the 23d
Lincoln Light Infantry, having with the rest of the regiment
mustered out of service, proceeded to Hingham, where it was {
a formal public recepti<m. A procession consisting of a de
nient of the Second Battalion of Infantry, a company of **I
Guards,*' the fire department, a cavalcade, and a large numb
citizens, was formed upon the wharf. Subsequently Cobb's 1
Battery headed the escort. In front of Lincoln's Buildii
service of thanksgiving was held, and addresses were r
At the close of the exercises the procession proceeded to
Town Hall amid the ringing of the church bells and the firif
cannon ; here a collation was served, and the men returned t
homes which they had left so suddenly three months before.

^y{

■ \

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■■ I

fiMUiHil

MMariiktf

mUtmmt

844

History of Hinghanu

Twelfth Regiment. -^

Alexander Hitcbborn, Co. F. Killed at Chancellorsville. Captaiu
Hitchboru was bom in Hingliain in 1822, and removed to
Brockton in 1854. After resi^iing from the Twelfth Massa-
chusetts, he became Assistant Surgeon in the Seventh Regular
Infantry, and was killed at the opening of the battle.

George Gardner, Co. E, Corpoi*aI.

John H. Blackman, Co. H. Quota Wevmouth. Bom Dorchester
June 6, 1842. Killed at Fredericksbu rg Dec. 1 8, 1862. Brother
of Lemuel S.

Laban F. Gushing, Co. K. Quota Manchester.

James D. Dunbar, Co H. Quota Weymouth. ,

John J. Edmonds, Co. G. Transferred to V. R Corps.

James Fitzgerald, Co. G. Born Nova Scotia, 1841. Mortally
wounded at Antietam, and died Nov. 6, aged 21 years.

Jacob Gardner, Jr., Co. H.

Samuel Spencer, Co. E. Mortally wounded at City Point, and died
June 25, 1864, aged 20 years.

Henry Swears, Co. tt. Quota Weymouth. Killed at Fi-cdcricks-
burg Dec. 13, 1862, aged 20 years.

Francis Tliomas, Co. H. Horn Hingham, Feb. 1, 1844. Lieu-
tenant Thomas was at the time of his enlistment but 17 years
of age, and the first of five brothers to enter the service. Enter-
ing the army as sergeant-major, he became in 1862 adjutant
of the regiment, and in January, 1863, Inspector of the Second
Brigade, Second Division, First Army Corps ; he was killed at
Gettysburg, July 3, 1862, aged 19 years.

Thirteenth Regiment.

William Wallace Sprague, Co. B. Quota Boston. Prisoner at
Belle Isle.

Fourteenth Regiment.

William Carter. Transferred to 1st Heavy Artillery, 1862.
Anton Tapp, Ca L. Transferred to 1st Heavy Artillery, 1862.

Fifteenth Regiment.

John E. Morse, Co. B. Quota Fitchburg. Captain in the Invalid
Corps. Afterward in 20th Regiment.

Sixteenth Regiment.

Michael Fee, Co. E. Born Leitrini County, Ireland, December,

1820. Wounded at Gettysburg, and died in service Sept. 26,

1863, aged 43 years.
Charles W. Blossom, Co. I, Corporal. Bom Chicopee June 29,

1840, and died at Hingham from disease contracted in service

Aug. 26, 1862, six days after reaching home.
Dennis Meagher, Co. A. Died or killed in servica

MUltary Hiiiarf. 845

Seventeenth Rbguhsmil

Owen Murphy, Co. C, Sergt

David Pettcngill. Probably eulisted in 186L

Philip Sullivan. Probably enlisted in 1861.

Eighteenth Rbgiment.

Thomas Weston, Co. E, Middleborough, Capt Colonel Weston
entered the service as Captain of Company R, became Major
Oct. 15, 1863, and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Sept 2, 1864.
He was a brave and efficient officer, and was wounded at the
second Battle of Bull Run. Has been for many years a resident
of Hinghara, and represented the district in the legislature in
1892. Was Commander of Post 104, O. A. R., in 1890 and
1891.

Benjamin F. Meservey, Co. H, 4th M. V. M., Quincy, 2d Lieut.
Major Meservey became Captain of Co. K, 18tii Mass, and was
wounded severely at second Bull Run. A brave officer. Brevet
Major.

Henry Jones, Co. E, Scrgt. Quota Duxbury. Wounded at Bull
Run, and again at Petersburg.

William H. Jones, Jr., Co. K. First served in Lincoln Light
Infantry. Became Sergeant in Captain Meservey's company,
in which, also, his father served. A brave soldier. Bom Wey-
mouth Jan. 26, 1841. Died from disease while in service, Feb.
12, 1864, aged 23 years.

Nelson F. Corthell, Co. A, Corp. Born Hingham April 1, 1888.
Killed at second Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862, aged 24 years.

Thomas Churchill, Co. A. Quota Boston. Bom Hingham, Feb.
5, 1808. Died in* service, Aug. 7, 1862, aged 54 years.

James M. Downer.

John Q. Jacob, Co. K. Transferred to V. R. Corps. First ser*
vice in Lincoln Light Infantry.

William H. Jones, Co. K. Afterward Co. C, 4th Cavalrr. Bom
Boston, March 23, 1816, and died in service Sept. 19, 1864,
aged 48 years. Mr. Jones was the father of Sergt Wm. H.
Jones, Jr., and of Gardner Jones, both of whom also laid down
their lives for their country.

Samuel T. Mcars. Quota Duxbury.

William W. Robinsou, Co. K. First served in Co. H, 4th Infantry,
M. V. M. Born Hingham, April 14, 1835. Died of disease
contracted in service.

Jeremiah Spencer, Co. K.

George E. Smith, Co. G.

Edward L. Tracy, Co. K.

Robert Tufts, Co. K.

« •

- ~ ----- .-■-- ■■..^■^■^^>L-^:r»T>Ji^..^^ ^V, :V.^..^-

846 History of Hingham.

« Nineteenth Regiment.

Samuel Bronsdon. Musician. Also served in Lincoln Light

Infantry, H.V.M.
James McKay, Co. L

Twentieth Regiment.

Alvin Tower, Co. A. Bom Cohasset, Sept. 18, 1882. Mortally
wounded at Fair Oaks June 1, 1862, and died June 8, aged 80
years. First service in Lincoln Light Infantry.

Edward 0. Graves, Co. K. Afterward in 59tli and 57th.

TwENTY-nnsT Regiment.

George A. Grover, Co. E. Also in Lincoln Light Infantry ; woundM.
Andrew Jacob, Co. K

Twenty-second Regiment.

Charles F. Alger, Co. K. Quota Boston.

John B. Crease, Co. A. Quota Boston. Born Scotland, May 26,

1839. Died in service May 16, 1862, aged 23 years.
William B. Gushing, Co. D.

Twenty-third Regiment.

George E. Humphrey, Co. H, Sergt. Wounded. Also in Lincoln

Light Infantry.
Edward C. Blossom, Co. A, Corp. Also in 29th Regt of Infantry;
Andrew J. Clark, Co. H. Also in Lincoln Lt. Infty.
Samuel M. Lincoln, Co. H. Born Hingham Dec. 28, 1841 ; died

in service Oct. 2, 1864, aged 23 years.

Twenty-fourth Regiment.

George L. Gardner, Co. E.

John W. Lincoln, Co. C. Quota Northborough.

Justin A. Carver, Co. 0.

Thomas Conway, Co. F.

Twenty-eighth Regiment.
Peter Ready, Co. P-

Twenty-ninth Regiment.

Joseph n. Barnes, Co. K^ Capt. Boston. Captain Barnes became
Lieutenant-Colonel in December, 1861. Brevet Brig.-Gen.

Waldo F. Corbett, Co. H, Corp. 1st Lieut 1st U. S. Heavy Artil-
lery (Colored).

George Thomas, Co. A.

Thirtieth Regiment.

Jacob Ourish, Co. I, Sergt Wounded. Also in Lincoln Light

Infantry.
Joseph C. Burr, Co. C, Corp. Also in V. B. C.

848 HUtory of Hingham.

Amos P. Holden, Co. A. 2d Lieut March 26, 1862.
Edward T. Bouv^, Co. G, let Lieut. See 4th Cavalry. ^
Lyman B. Whiten, Co. I. Born Hingham, Jan. 17, 1884. Sergt

in Lincoln Light Infty ; 2d Lieut Co. I, 32d Regt ; Ist Lieut

May 26, 1862; Capt 8d Co. Heavy ArtiL, Dec. 81, 1862;

Major 3d Kegt Heavy ArtiL Sept 8, 1864 ; Commander Post

104, G. A. R., 1892.
Thomas A. Carver, Co. E, Sergt Wounded. Trans, to V, R. C. ;

first served in Lincoln Light Infantry.
Charles Corbett, Co. A, Sergt Memb. Lincoln Lt Infty.

John W. Eldredge, Co. E, " Wounded. ^ " "

Henry S. Ewer, Co. A, ** u u u

James M. Haskell, Co. A, ** u . u u ,

Born in Augusta, Me. ; one of six brothers in the service*

Mortally wounded at Gettysburg.
James McCarty, Co. A, Sergt A very brave soldier.
Charles S. Meade, Co. A, " Born Walpole. N. H., March 1, 1844.

Enlisted at 17 years of age, and died in service, March 7, 1864.
Peter Ourish, Co. E., Sergt. Bom Buffalo, N. Y., April 16, 1845.

Enlisted at 16 years of age. Mort wounded; died June 8, 1864,

aged 19 years.
John Parry, Co. A, Sergt

Nathaniel Wilder, 2d, Co. E, Sergt. Transferred to V. R. C.
John C. Cbadbourn, Co. A, Corp. Wounded.
Silas H. Cobb, Co. E, Corp. Member Lincoln Light Infty.
Jacob G. Cushing, Co. D, Corp. Member Lincoln Light Infantry.

Born Oct 8, 1836. Mort. wounded at Laurel Hill, May 12, 1864.
John C. Eldredge, Co. E, Corp.
Harvey M. Pratt, Co. A, " Wounded.
Edgar P. Stodder, Co. E, "
Sumner A. Trask, Co. A, "

Edwin Herscy, Co. E, Musician. Also in Lincoln Light Infty.
Charles H. F. Stodder, Co. E, Musician. Also in Lincoln Light

Infantry. '^

Otis L. Battles, Co. E. Wounded at Cold Harbor.
William Brcen, Co. A, Corp. Died a prisoner in the service.
Henrv F. Binney, Co. E. Also in Lincoln Light Infantry.
Ichabod W. Chandler, Co. R Transferred to V. R. C.
William Fardy, Co. R

George French, Jr., Co. A. Transferred to V. R. C.
Stephen P. Gould, Co. R
Warren Hatch, Jr., Co^ A.
Samuel J. Henderson, Ca A.
John Q. Hersey, Co. E. Born Hingham, Sept 28, 1829. Died

in the service.
William Hersev, Jr.
Wallace Humphrey, Co. R Bom Hingham, Sept 2, 1886. Killed

at Cold Harbor, June 8, 1864
Alfred A. Lincoln, Co. R Member Lincoln Light Infty.

MUitary HiUarg. 849

Meltiah Loring, Co. A.

Frank H. Miller, Co. E. Wounded Feb. 6, 1865.

Paul McNeil, Co. A.

John M. Nolan, Co. A.

Nathaniel B. Feare, Co. E.

George M. Prouty, Co. F.

James B. Prouty, Co. E.

Thomas Raflferty, Jr., Ca E.

Foster Remington, Co. E.

William F. Riley, Co. R

John E. Snell, Co. R Wounded at Gettysburg.

Franklin A. Stoddcr. Transferred to V. R. C.

Horace L. Studley, Co. R Bom Scituate, Sept 24, 1837. Died in

the service, April 1, 1868.
William H. Thomas, Co. A.
Ezra Wilder, Jr., Co. R
George Wilder, Co. A.
Joshua Wilder, Ca A.
Horatio P. Willard, Co. A. Bom Ashburnham, Sept 25, 1819.

Died in service, Nov. 6, 1862.
George A. Wolfe, Co. R

First Batte^t Light Abtillebt.
James R. French.

Third Battert Light Ashllert.
George F, Tower.

First Cavalry.

William A. Daggett, Co. K, Bugler. Transferred to Co. E, 4th
Cav. First served in Co. C, 4th Regt. M. V. M.

Charles D. Kilburn, Co. B, Corp. Born Boston, June 22, 1889.
Mortally wounded at Hope Church, Va., November, 1868, and
died Jan. 4, 1864.

William 0. Lincoln, Jr., Co. A, Commissary Sergeant.

Nov. 15, 1861, the town voted to raise three thousand dollars in
aid of the families of volunteers.

March 8, 1862, at a town meeting, a committee preTiously
chosen reported that they had expended for uniforms, clothing,
caps, shoes, etc., for the Lincoln Light Tnfantry, $1,881.27, and
to volunteers in other companies, $18.50.

July 5, 1862, the town \T)ted $5,000 for the payment of State
aid, and $1,000 as town aid, to volunteers and their families in
the service of the United States.

July 11, a meeting of citizens, held in reference to raising the
town's quota of three hundred thousand men called for by the
President on the 2d of the same month, voted to recommend
the payment of $75 to each man volunteering on the town's
quota ; at a meeting four days later, the amount recommended
for this purpose was increased to $100, and this sum was voted
by the town at a meeting on the 19th.

.'i

. «
I

t ;

i 850 History of Hingham.

Numerous meetiugs of citizens were held iu aid of recruitiDg by
the town during the summer, and on August 15, at a town meet-
ing, it was voted to give one hundred dollars in addition to the
sum previously voted to be paid to volunteers for thi*ee years on
the first quota ; and at a meeting of the town on the 29th of the
month the amount of bounty to be paid for each volunteer upon
the second quota was increased fifty dollars.

In the autumn of 1862, two companies of ^ Home Guards '*
were formed ; they paraded as a battalion on the 22d of October,
and a second parade took place November 4.

During the summer of 1862 the Government had called for
three hundred thousand nine-months men, in addition to those
already required for three years* service. On the quota for niile
months, Hingham was required to furnish eighty-three men. Many
of these were at the time borrowed from Plymouth, Middleborough,
and Quincy, but were soon afterwards returned. The following
were enlisted for nine months : —

Fourth Regiment.

Tilson Fuller, Co. K, Corp.

Caleb B. Marsh, Co. A. Prisoner at Donaldsonville.

Fifth Regiment.
Jairus Lincoln, Jr., Co. E, Sergt

Sixth Regiment.
George Smith, Co. F. Quota Newton. Wounded.

Forty-second Regiment.

Augustus Boiling, Co. C.

Swan P. Colberg, Co. C.

James Corcoran, Co. C. — -

Patrick McCrane, Co. C.

Michael Reardon, Co. C.

Fortt-third Regiment.

John C. Whiton, Lieutenant-Colonel. Born Hingham, Aug. 22,
1828. First served as Captain of the Second Battalion M. V. AI.,
in garrison duty at Fort Warren, then as Captain and Lieutenant*
Colonel in the 48d Regiment of nine-months men. Was sub-.
sequently Lieutenant^Colonel and Colonel of the 58th Regiment,
and was wounded at Bethesda Church.

Dexter Grose, Co. F, Sergt. Two brothers of Sergt Grose were
in the service.

George W. Fearing, Co. K, Corp. Formerly in Lincoln Light
Infantry.

Loring H. Gushing, Co. K.

Isaac I*. Goodwin, Ca K.

352 History of Hingham.

The three-years men who enlisted in 1862 were : -~ -^^

First Regiment.

Wilfiam H. Beal, Co. K. Bom Hingham, Oct. 9, 1841. Severely
wounded at Gettysburg; gradually failed, and died Dec. 20,
1865. Also in 24th Regt

Joseph M. Poole, Co. F.

Thomas Tinslcy, Co. E. Born England, Aug. 7, 1821 ; died May

11. 1863, from wounds received at ChancelTorsville.

Second Rbqiment.

Isaac* B. Damon, Co. L ,

Seventh Regiment.

Ebenezer F. Roberts, Co. A. Wounded and transferred to V.R.G.
First served in Lincoln Light Infty.

Ninth Regiment.
John J. Breen, Co. K, Corp. Wounded at Spottsylvania.

Eleventh Regiment.
William C. Miller, Co. B. Wounded at Williamsburg, May 8, 1B62.

Thirteenth Regiment.
George W. Stodder, Co. H.

Twentieth Regiment.
Daniel Daley, Co. H. Wounded at Fredericksburg.

TWENTT-FODBTH REGIMENT. -

Albert F. Barnes, Co. A. —

James Booth.

Thirty-hrst Regiment.

John G. Dawes, Co. K, Sergt Transferred to 2d La. Volunteers,
and commissioned 2d Lieut.

Thirtt-secokd Regiment.

George M. Hudson. Co. F. 2d Lieut. Dec. 29, 1862; Ist Lieut

Sept. 29, 1863. Wounded at Laurel Hill. May 12, 1864.
Thomas D. Blossom, Co. E, Sergt. Wounded at Petersburg, June

18. 1864.

I^onard E. Buker. Co. F. Wounded at Gravelly Run.

Isaac G. Waters, Co. F. Trans, to V. R. C. First served with

Lincoln Li^ht Infty.
Theophilus Cushing, Jr., Co. F, Corp.

.;.•»

;. ij 854 History of Mmgham,

' • f •

Joshua Roach, Go. H. Died in service, June 1, 1868, aged88 jra.
Cushman RoundH, Co. H. ^

Peter H. Royal, Co. H.
William Rich, Co. I.

Thirty-ninth Rbgiment.

Thaddeus Churchill, Co. D, Sergt 2d Lieut. 3d U. S. CoPd Inftv.
John H. Prouty, Co. G, Sergt ; 2d Lieut. First served in Lincoln

Light Infty.
John W. Bailey, Co. G, Sergt.
Henry C. French, Co. G, Sergt Born Hiugham, June 80, 1886.

First served in Lincoln Light Infantry. Murdered while a

prisoner at Belle Isle, Va., Aug. 26, 1864, aged 28. One of

three brothers, all of whom gave their lives for tlieir country

and ours.
William H. Jacob, Co. G, Sergt
Charles C. Bailey, Co. G, Corp.
Benjamin C. Lincoln, Co. G. Capt 2d U. S. Col'd Infty., 1868;

Major, July 20, 1864. Bom Hingham, Au^. 12, 1840. Mort

wounded at Natural Bridge, Fla., March 8, 1865.
Henry F. Miller, Co. G, Corp. Born Salem, Jan. 80, 1845. Mort

wounded at Laurel Hill, May 8, 1864, aged 19 yrs.
Charles C. Young, Co. G, Corp.
Charles E. Bates, Co. G. Born Cohasset, Dec. 1 6, 1 837. Wounded

at Laurel Hill. Pied in service, Nov. 2, 1864, aged 26 years.
Timothy B. Chapman, Co. G.
Eleazer Chubbuck, Jr., Co. O.
James T. Churchill. Born Bingham, May 9, 1841. Died in

Andersonville Prison, June 23, 1864, aged 28 years.
John Cresswell, Co. G. First served in Lincoln Lt. Infantry. -
Andrew J. Damon, Co. G. Bom Scituate, June 14, 1843. Died

of disease contracted in service, Oct. 27, 1863, aged 20 years.
Charles E. French, Co. G. Born Hingham, Aug. 2, 1842. Died a

prisoner at Salisburv, N. C, Nov. 28, 1864, aged 22 years.
George D. Gardner, Co. G. Born Boston, Aug. 27, 1828. Died

in service, Aug. 4, 1864, aged 86 years.
Alvin R. Glines, Co. G.
Albert S. Haynes, Co. G. Bom Hanover, Sept, 1843. Fii-st

served in Lincoln Light Infty. Mort wounded at Laurel Hill,

and died June 11, 1864, aged 21 years.
Albert Hersey, Co. G.
George L. Hersey, Co. G.

Henry F. Hersey, Co. G. Prisoner at Libby Prison.
Charles Leroy, Co. G.
John S. Neal, Co. G. Born at Hebron, N. H., Nov., 1881. Died

in prison at Salisbury, N. C, July 16, 1865, aged 88 years.
Levi C. Newcoinb, Ca G. ^

Charles H. Poole, Co. G.
Benjamin W. Prou^, Co. 6.
Elijah Prouty, Co. G. Died in service Dec. 9, 1868. Served in

Lincoln Light Infantry.

■ rL^ __ „ ^ .

i iii iW i i ■ ■ II mt ii ki M imilimmtktmi^i^t0m

MlkliMMto«klili«HiiHiiiUttdritaMMtea^«^iUUfe

?■

356

History of

Sixteenth Regiment.

Don Pedro Wilson, Co. A. Born at Dracut, Aug. 16, 1821.
August, 1863, drafted into the service. Probably taken pris-
oner Oct. 23,. 1863, and never since heard from.

Twentt-second Regiment.

William E. Gould, Co. F. Also in 5th Battery and 32d Regt
Sewall Pugslej, Co. F. Born Hiram, Me., March 20, 1831. One

of the tiiree drafted men from Hingham ; died in service Nov.

12, 1868, aged. 32 years.

Thirty-second Regiment.

William E. Gould, Co. L. One of the three drafted men from
Hingham.

FlFTT-FOUBTH ReGIMENT.

David H. Champlin, Co. B.
Louis L. Simpson, Co. G.

Fifty-fifth Regiment.

Alphonso Marsh. Private 21st Mass. Infty. 2d Lieut. 65th
Infty. Aug. 21, 1863. 1st Lieut July 9, 1864

Tenth Light Batteby.

Rosea 0. Barnes. Bom Scituate, June 13, 1842 ; killed at Joneses
Farm, May SO, 1864, aged 22 years.

FmsT Regiment Heavy Artillery.
Webster A. Cushing, Ca D,. Corp.

Third Regiment Heayy Artillery.

Lyman B. Whiton, Major. See 32d Reg. — ..

Edwin Thomas, Co. K, Captain. Born Hingham. Private Ist

Unattached Co. Heavy Artil. ; Jan. 1863, 2d Lieut 8 Co. ; May

25, 1863, 1st Lieut; Sept 8, 1864, Capt Co. E., 3d Regt

Heavy Artil. Quota Weymouth.
Francis K. Meade, Co. A. Qt. Sei^.
Franz Burhenne, Co. A, Corporal.
John B. Batchelder, Co. A, Artificer.

Jonathan B. Ackerman,.Co. A.

Fielder Botting, Co. A.

George A. Chubbuck, Co. A. Transferred to Navj.

Daniel H. Miller, Co. A.

Levi H. Dow, Co. E. Served in Lincoln Light Infty. and in Co. E,

17 Regt. U. S. A. (Regulars).
Joseph H. Noyes. Co. A. Also in 1st Regt Mounted Rifles U. S. A.

(Ilegulars). Refused commission in rebel army in 1861.

Military Uiiian/. 857

George E. RichardBon, Co. A. Transferred to Na^j.
Joseph Rollins.
Charles E Spurr, Co. A.
Warren R. Spurr, Co. A.
Henry Whitman, Co. A.

Second Regiment Civilbt.
Thomas T. Barnes, Co. B.

Fourth Regiment Civalbt.

Alfred Gardner, Co. C.

George W. Farrar, Co. B.

Samuel Ncwcomb, 2d, Co. D. Transferred to Navj.

Edward S|)ellman, Co. A.

Philo C. Winslow, Co. A.

Veteran Reserve Corps.

The following are in addition to the men transferred to this
corps and noted in the general lists : —

Michael Carr, Lawrence Hicks,

Michael Casej, John Eeefe,

John Dolan, James McGregor,

Patrick Donnelin, Edward McLaughlin,

Moses Fairfield, James Tettler,

Michael Flcmming, Charles Timmons,

Thomas Foley, Henry B. Livinsston. Died in

Peter Forrester, service May 21, 18G4.

Edward Galvin,

Unknown.
John Ryan.

Under the call of the President of Oct. 27, 1868, for 300,000
additional volunteers, the quota of Hinghum was fifty. Forty-two
men were soon obtained, and tlie re-enlistment of twenty-two sol-
diers of the 32d Regiment enabled the town to have credited to it
a considerable surplus above all previous calls.

March 7, 1804, the annual meeting of the town was held, and
it was voted to appropriate 8800 for town aid to the families of
volunteers, and to borrow §8,000 for the purpose of paying
State aid. It was also voted to raise 81,000 for the expenses of
recruiting.

At a town nieetinjr hold April 11 it was voted to raise 88000
for the purpose of refunding to individuals the money contributed
by them towards filliuir the town's quotas under the calls of the
President of Oct 17, 1863, and Feb. 1, 1864. At this meeeting,
too, the selectmen were requested to obtain authority from the

] 358 History of Bingham.

.- :

( ,

li
r

Legislature to defray the expenses of obtaining and interring
the bodies of such officers and soldiers belonging to the town as
may die in the service during the rebellion.

The enlistments into the three-year organizations in 1864
were —

Seventeenth Regiment.

Owen Murphy, Co. C. One year enlistment
David Pettingill, Co. C. One year enlistment
Philip Sullivan, Ca C. One year enlistment.

Twentieth Regiment.
George Gramburg. * «

TWENTT-SIZTH REGIMENT.

Charles Bolster, Co. E. GorporaL
Edwin Barr, Co. E.
John O'Brien, Co. B.
Nelson T. Wood, Co. E.

TWENTT-NI.VTH REGIMENT.

Caleb H. Beal, Sergt Also served in Co. K, 35th Regt
John Manix, Co. I, GorporaL

Edward C. Blossom. Also served in Co. A, 23d Regt
Robert Grace.

Thirtt-second Regiment.

Hiram Newcomb, 2d, Co. E. Born Hingham, Jan., 1842. Died
of disease contracted in army Oct. 15, 1867, aged 25 years.

Charles E. Wilder, Co. E Born Hingham, Aug., 1832. Wounded
at Laurel Hill, May 12, 1864. Died of disease in the service,
Dec. 23, 1864.

TniRTY-nPTH Regiment. ^

Charles H. Beal, Co. K. First served in 84th N. Y. Vols. After-
ward,. 2d Lieut Co. E, 107th N. Y. Vols. Finally transferred
to Co. I, 29th Mass., where he was a sergeant

FiFTY-nFTH Regiment.

Peter N. Sprague, Co. A. Born Hingham, Dec. 16, 1826. First
served in Lincoln Light Infantry. 2d Lieut Co. A, 55th Regt.
Aui^. 20, 1864. 1st Lieut May 15, 1865.

John T. Talbot, Co. B.

FiFTT-sizTH Regiment.

George Bailey, Co. I, Corporal. Killed at Petersburg, June 17,

1864, aged about SO years.
George A. Clapp, Go. H.

MUUary Huior^ 859

Fifty-seventh Rboimeiit.

Edward 0. Graves, Co. C. Also served in Co. K, 20ih B^, and

Co. C, 59th Regt A musician.
John Welch, Co. G. Also served in 59th Regt

FlFTT-EIOHTH RbQIMENT.

John C. Whiton, ColoueL

William M. Carter, Co. H, Sergt Wounded ; one year enlistment.

John McDonald, Co. A.

James L. Litchfield, Co. D.

FiFTT-KINTH RbQIMEMT.

Alfred Tyler, Co. F, Corporal.

Edward 0. Graves, Co. C, Musician. Transferred to 57th B^t.

William C. Torrey, Co. G. Enlisted from Dedham.

John Welch, Co. G. Transferred to 57th R^

First Regiment Heavy Artillery.

William Carter, Co. G. One-year enlistment Transferred from

14th Infantry.
Anton Tapp, Co. L. One-year enlistment. Transferred from 14th

Infantry.

Third Regiment Heavy Artillert.

Edwin F. Tirrell, Co. B, 2d Lieut Enlisted from Weymouth.

Isaiah W. Loring, Co. A, CorporaL

Joshua Crosby, Jr., Co. A.

Francis Mayhew, Co. A: One-year enlistment

George Peacock, Co. A. One-year enlistment

Aaron D. Swan, Co. M. One-year enlistment

Second Regiment Cavalry.'

Eben Hart, Co. L.
John McLaughlin.

Fourth Regiment Cavalry.

Edward T. Bouv^, Co. G. Born Hingham, Aug. 14, 1841.
2d Lieut 32d Inftv. June 30, 1862; 1st Lieut Sept 1, 1862;
Capt. 4th Cavalry 'Jan. 22, 1864 ; Major 26th N. Y. Cavaliy,
Fob. 28, 1865 ; Maior 4th Mass. Cavalry. Commander of Post
104, G. A. R., in 1877, 1878, and 1879.

Benjamin Thomas. 2d Lieiit Dec. 1863. Ist Lieut and Quarter-
master 4th Cavalry Jan. 1, 1864. A. A. Q. M. Tenth Army
Corps.

Tliomas Hickcy, Co. M. Born Hingham Jan. 14, 1841. First
served from Waltham in Co. M. Ist Regt. Cavalry in 1861.

860 History of Hinghanu

{- Color-Sergt. 4th Cavalry ; 2d Lieut Aug. 9, 1865. Prisoner at

High Bridge Aug. 1865. Destroyed the colora to prevent their
falling into the bands of the enemy.
I Frank H. Gilman, Co. B, Sergeant

I Arvander Merrow, Co. B, Sergeant

!'. James 6. Raymond, Co. D, Corporal. From Weymouth. Died at

i Hilton Head May 24, 1864, aged 18 years.

' Thomas Cloney, Co. P, Musician.

William A. Daggett, Musician. Also in 1st Reg. Cavalry.

Orietes L. Bailey, Co. C.
' Charles Campbell, Co. D. Transferred to Navy.

Cornelius Connell, Co. D. Prisoner at Florence, Ala.
j. Samuel N. Cortbell, Co. D. Prisoner at Florence, Ala. Also

•. served in Co. K, 7tb Infantry.

William L. Cummings, Co. D.

Charles Gardner. Enlisted from Brighton.

James Hickey, Co. C.

William H. Jones, Co. C. Died of wounds Sept. 19, 1864, at
Magnolia, Fla., aged 48 years. Served also in 18th Infantry.
Lost two sons in the service.

Joseph S. Miller, Co. F. Wounded at Deep Bottom, Va.

Thomas Rafiferty, Jr., Co. F.

Dennis Scully, Co. D. Born County Cork, Ireland, Sept, 1834.
Died in service, April 26, 1864, aged 29 years.

Frank H. Tilton, Go. C. Died in service July 12, 1864, aged 18 yrs.

I ■

Fifth Regiment Gayalby.

Rufus Clark, Co. B.
Tbomas Davis, Co. I.
George Jones, Co. G.
Mattliew H. Lucas, Co. B.
Joseph Nathan, Co. B.

In 1864 the President called for 85,000 men' to serve for 100
days. Tbose enlisting for this service from Hingham were —

Fifth Regiment.
Robert Cusbing, Co. P.
Revere Lincoln, Co. P.

Forty-second Regiment.

Joseph M. Thomas, Co. A. Born Hanson, Aug. 24, 1841 ;

2d Lieut. July 14, 1864. Also served in 11th Battery.
Fergus A. Easton, Co. E. Sergeant. First served in Lincoln

Light Infantry ; then as Orderly-Sergt in 6tb N. Y. Cavalry, in

which he was 2d Lieut June 27, 1862, and 1st Lieut March 22,

1868.

Military 2

George Dunbar, Co. D» Corporal.

Infontry. 2d Lieut Co. 1, 4th ]
John Henry Stoddar, Ca D.
Arthur Beale, Co. A, Commander

Sixtieth R
Andrew W. Gardner, Co. B.

Tlie following members of the TI
as veteran volunteers for three jea

Ephraim Anderson,

Otis L. Battles,

Jai

William Brcen,

John C. Chadboum,

Pel

Jacob G. Gushing,

William L. Dawes,

John W. Eldredge,

. Ch:

Thomas L. French,

Edwin Hersey,

Wallace Humphrey,

Gardner Jones,

. Ge

Under the head of ^^ Unassigncd
occur in ^ Hingbam in the Civil
lerred to Navy, and Charles Richa

There were enlisted for one year

Sixty- FIRST

John K Wilson, Co. E, Corporal.
William H. Allen, Co. F.
Thomas S. Brigham, Co. G.
Wakefield Carver, Co. F.
John B. Donaven, Co. F.
Michael Franey, Ca K.
Wflliam Hilton, Co. F.
Patrick J. Kelley, Co. C.
James HcNaroara, Co. F.
John A. Watson, Co. F.

Fourth Regiment I

James M. Cleverly, Co. G.
John A. Farrington, Co. C.
George J. Fearing, Go. G.
WiUiam H. Gilman, Ca G.
Henry Hart, Ca C.
Chailes Hehns, Co. G.
Michael Landers, Co. G.
IGcbael Roach, Co. G.

■liMBiMiifiiMiiMih

Mil

liiirfcjMfrwTiMiVin I iMi III

mri-iii

862

HUtory qf Hingham.

f «

Charles Sbute, Co. D. Probably enlisted from Worcester.^.

Mehar Vinal, Co. C.

Henry B. Vogell, Ca G.

Joseph N. Wall, Co. G. Also served in 23d Regt

On the first of December the town had to its credit twentv-six
men above all calls, having furnished two hundred and fifteen
soldiers to the army during the year.

On the 29th December a meeting of citizens liable to military
duty was held at the town hall for the purpose of forming a
company in accordance with the provisions of an act of the Legis-
lature approved May 14. Henry Jones, who had served in the
18th Infantry Mass. Vols., was elected captain. The law was.
shortly after repealed, and this, the last of Hingham*s militia
companies, never met for parade or drill.

March 6, 1 865. At the annual town-meeting it was voted to
hire $9000 for the payment of State aid, and to appropriate $800
for town aid to families of soldiers.

There were enlisted for one year the following men in 1865 : -*

SixTT-FiBST Regiment.

James W. Gray, Co. K, Corporal
James Daley, Co. I.
George C. Dunham, Co. L
John H. Hayes, Co. K.
Joseph H. Hilton, Co. I.
George W. R Putnam, Ca H.
George L. Rich, Co. H.

SlZTT-SECOND RbGIMCNT.

Andrew W. Gardner, Ca C.

Regular Abmt.

There enlisted in the regular army at various periods during
the war, the following : —

Richard J. Farrell, Co. G, 2d Regt U. S. Artillery. Bom in

Dungarvan, Ireland, Jan. 10, 1841. Enlisted June 10, 1861.

Wounded on the Peninsula, and died March 24, 1864, aged 28

years.
Dennis Mullian, 19th Infantry. Enlisted >Iay 10^ 1864
Joseph H. Noves, 1st Mounted Rifles.
William Perkins, 19th Infantry, May 10, 1864.
Michael F. Thompson, Co. D, 5th Regt. U. S. ArtiL, Sergeant.

Born Irdand, March 9, 1840. Died of disease contracted in

service Jan. 6, 1867, aged 27 years.
Joseph W. Welsh. Enlisted Sept. 24, 1864
James H. Williams, 19th Infantry, May 10, 1864

364 HUiory of Hingham.

Allyne C. Litchfield, Capt. 5ih Michi^n Cav. Licut.-Col.

Michigan Cav. Prisoner at Libby Prison. Brevet Brigad

General. In 1871 Consul-General at Calcutta.
James Lowry, 3d District of Columbia Regt
Daniel Murphy. Born Boston Nov. 22, 1 840. Died in Hospiti

Washington prior to Nov. 24, 1862. Soldier in IStlf N. Y. \
William L. Neal, 6th X. H. Infantry.
Charles Remin^on, Lincoln Body Guard.
John F. Rogers, Co. A, 74th Rcgt Illinois Vols.
Henry E. Spaulding, 13th N. fiL Infantry. Now a physiciai:

Hingham.
Isaiah F. Tower, Captain Co. G, 93d Regt. Ohio Vol. Infan

Wounded at Nashville Dec. 16, 1864.
Benjamin S. Whiting, Lieut. 17th U. S. Infantry.
Webster A. Whiting, Capt. 88th Illinois Vols.
Conrad P. Yager. Born Mergantheim, Wiirtemberg. Enlistee

Co. F, 2d Rcgt., Lincoln Guard. Died in service Oct. 15, U
,i aged 20 years.

i'. The Navt.

The natives or residents of Hingham serving in the Navy, so
( as known, numbered thirty-seven, as follows : —

Charles H. Loring, 3d Asst Engineer, Feb. 26, 1851 ; 2d A

Engineer May 21, 1853 ; 1st Asst Engineer May 9, 1857 ; C!

Engineer March 25, 1861. Served on the '^ Minnesota **

^ Susquehanna."
i "* Thomas Andrews. Born Hingham June 9, 1816, and died

service Feb. 27, I860, aged 48 years. Acting-Master U.
1^ Navy. Captain Andrews was a direct descendant of -Ci

Thomas Andrews who died in Sir William Pliips^s expedil
* against Canada. Served on " Vermont," " Courier," ** Cri

, . der," and ** Pensacola.'*

Lemuel Pope, Acting Master's Mate, Sept 10, 1862; Act

Ensign, Feb. 11, 1864; Acting Master, July 18, 1865.
Andrew Tower, June 2, 1863, Actih^-Assistant Pavmaster, U.J

Served on " Norfolk Packet," " C. P. Williams'," " Para,** j

** Passaic."

r Franklin Nickerson, Acting- Assistant Surgeon, U. S. N. Ser

i on ** Shokokon " and *' Brittania."

Edward W. Halcro. Born Hamburg Jan. 24, 1836. Act

Ensign Dec. 15, 1863. Died in Norfolk Hospital April 5, IS
j Buried in Hingham. Served on " Genesee," " Ovetta," ** Sa

, Bruen," ** Idaho," and ** New Hampshire."

I Charles M. Fuller, Acting Master*s Mate. Served on **Ms

ii donian," ** Essex," and " Ozark.*'

i Charles A. Stewart, March 16, 1865, Acting Ensign. Prisone

Charleston, S. C. Served on ** Wachusett," '*Southfie

** Underwriter," ** Muscoota," and ** Saco.**

Military Hisiarif. 885

John H. TnisselU Actiuff 8d Assistant Engineer. Served on

** Connecticut," ** luka, and ** Clyde.**
Augustus Barnes, Captain's Clerk. Served on ^* Marion ** and

** Pocahontas.''
Frederick C. Blair, Master-at-Arms. Served on " W. G. Ander-
son,** the prize ** Arizona,** ** Potomac,** *• Metacomet,** and

** Selma.**
Alfred B. Whiting, Mastcr-at-Arms. Served on ** Colorada**
Charles Campbell, 6unner*s-mate. Served on ** Vermont** and

** Para ; ** was also in U. S. Army.
Henry W. Hersey, Paymaster*s Steward. Prisoner. Served on

** Sachem,'* ** Diana,*' *' Onondaga,** and ** Otsego.**
Elkanah Binney, Signal Quartermaster ; wounded in Mobile Bay.

Served on ** Oneida.**
Samuel Newcomb, 2d Signal Quartermaster. Served on ^Bnt-

zilicra,'' and '' South Carolina.**
Alden Lincoln, First-class Fireman. Served on ^* Genesee.**
George A. Orover, First-class Fireman. Served on ^* Acacia** and

prize ** Julia.*'
Daniel S. Lincoln, First-class Fireman. Served in Lincoln Light

Infantry and on ** Monadnock,** ** Connecticut,** and ** luka.**
William Eldredpe, Seaman on.** Vincennes.**
John W. Gardner. Born Hingham, Aug. 17, 1820. Died in

service June 24, 1863, aged 42 years. Served in Ca I, First

Mass. Infantry, and in Co. I, i2th Maine Infantry, and on

"Hartford.**
George E. Richardson. Served in 3d Mass. Heavy Artillery and

on " Massasoit.**
George A. Chubbuck. Served in 3d Unattached Co. Heavy Artil-
lery, and on *' Glaucus ** and " Mather Vassar.*'
William G. Gushing. Served on " Gemsbok.'
Bonjamin Hatchfield. Served on ** Louisville.'
Daniel Stodder. Served on " Conewaugh.**
Thomas R. Murphy. Served on " Ethan Allen.^
Isaac M. Dow. Served on " Massasoit**
Daniel Dalev.

Robert F. Fardy. Served on '* Queen ** and "Passaic.**
Edward Gottchcll. Served on ** Queen ** and " Passaic.^
Benjamin L. Jones. Served on " Hetzel ** and ** Louisiana.'
George H. Merritt. Born Scituate Sept 11, 1842. Died at

Little Washington, N. C, Feb. 7, 1863, aged 20 years. Served

on " Hetzel '* and " Louisiana.**
Daniel J. Thompson. Served on " Ohio.**
Henry Trowbridge. Served on *' Hetzel ** and ** Louisiana.**
William Burtes.
Edwin Barnes.

Under the heading of ^^ Additional Enlistments in Hingham
in the Civil War/* the following names appear. Of most of them

»9

866

SitUoTf <^ Hingham.

William H. Lanet thre<

Jacob Lowe, 5tb (U. S,]

John C. Maguire, Ca

Mass.

little else is known thaa the fact of their being recr
that they were either natives of Hingham or served upon

Edwin Allen, three years, Tliouias Griflin, three i

Louis Anderson, Edward Hackctt, three

Calvin R. Baker, Mark Hall,

John Baker, three years, Otis C. Hardy, three y(

Joseph Barstow.served with Kit Jaines Hayes,

Carson, William Hillareton,

George W. Boen, three years, Edward Bourne Hinckh
George H. Bonnej, three years, man,'
Edwin Uooth, Henry A. Hitchcock, tb

John Brown, three years, ' Jeremiah Hurley,

Mclzar W. Clark, Edward Kellcy,

John Collins, three years, Joseph B. Kelsey,

Tiiomaa Collins, three years, • Kittredpe,

William Colman,

Barney Gonaley,

Charles Cook, three years,

Henry DagKctt, three years,

Horatio M.Dallas, one year, Cap- Patrick Mahoney,

tain in frontier service, Michael JfcGrane, 9 mi

Thomas D. Dalton, three years, Charles H- Muschatt,th
Albert Damon, George H. Osborn,

James Dempeey, three years, Edwin Poiney, three ye
Henry B. Dowiies, tliree years, Edward L. Preston,
Josian Edson, Cavalry,

West D. Eldredge, three years, William Randall,
Lendal Hanscom Ewell, Co. H, I^lward Roach, three yi

4th Refct David P. Rohinson,

Thomas M. Farrell, Albert Sawyer,

John G. Gorman, Franklin Simmons,

Timothy Gordon, Capt Ca 6, William T. Sprague, th

4th Regt. William Thompson. -

James Gorman, 21st Regt

The roll of honor which Hingham cherishes with love
for its record of bravery and devotion contains the namt
hundred and seventy-three soldiers and sailors who ser
her quota, besides nineteen who marched with the Linci
Infantry in the first days of the war and did not sub
appear on the lists; making four hundred ond ninetj'-twc
men furnished by the town for the defence of tlie com
this number should be added twenty-eight Hingliam
joined regiments in other States, bringing the whole ni
to live hundred and twenty. The number re-enlistin
perhaps he accurately ascertained, but the agtrregnte
ments from Hingham during the war,and not including
hers of the Lincoln Light Infantry, is stated in ** Hiogbi

MUUarg HUiarf. 867

Civil War** to have been seven hundred and five. There were
mortally wounded or killed in battle thirty-one men and aeven
oflScers ; died in the service, twenty-seven men and three oflScers,
besides one man murdered and six others who died while pri«>
oners ; nine men ^nd one oflScer died from disease contracted in
the service during or soon after the war. Thus there was a loss
of eighty-two of our townsmen, most of whom were citizens at
the time, as a direct result of the conflict. Many more have
passed away since, in consequence of the months and years of
privation and exposure. In addition to the casualties above,
there were thirty men and seven officers wounded, and seven men
and three officers taken prisoners.

The names and rank of the officers from Hingham, as far as
known, are : —

IN THE ARMT.

BVT. BRIGADIER-GENERALS. Henrj H. Cosbing, 88Ui niinoit.

- ,, e* u T ji A Webster A. WhiUog, 88th lUimns.

Luther Stephenson, Jr. ; wonnded. j^j^j^ p ^ower, 93d Ohio ; wounded.

Allyne C. Litchfield ; prisoner. Timothy Gordon, 4th Infantry.

Joseph H. Barnes. Horatio M. DaUis, Frontier Swrioe.

COLONELS.

George R. Reed, 82d Infaatiy.

John C.\Vhiton, 58th Infty.; wounded. first libutbnaxts.

Hawkes Fearing, 8th N. H. Inf^. _ ^ „ ^ __,. ^ « -

^ ^ Peter N. Sprague, 55th Infantry.

LIEUTENANT^OLONEL. 5?°^**^" ^'SSL w ^^'^*

Oliver Bumll, 33th Infantry.

Charles B. I^avilt, 70th U. S. Infty.; Alphonso Marsh, 55th Infantry,

twice wounded. George M. Hudson, 22d Infantry;

wounded.

BVT. IJEUTENANT-COLONKL. Nathaniel French, Jr., 32d Infantry;

Thoma.We.ton.l8thInfty.; wounded. chtt'Sp'SMth Inf«.t,y.

MA^npfli Elijah B. Gill. Jr., 1st Infty. ; killed.

MAJORS. ^^^^^^ yy g.^^^^y^ 32d Inftr. ; killed.

Benjamin C. Lincoln, 2d U. S. Infty. ; Fergus A. Easton, 6th N. X. Cavalry,

killed in battle. Waldo F. Corbett, 1st U. S. Heayy Art.

Edward T. Bouvd, 4th Cavalry. Francis Thomas, 12th Infty. ; kOled.
Lyman B. Whiton, Sd Heavy Artill*y.

SECOND LIBUTBNABTS.
BVT. MAJOR.

« . . r» %r 104U T / 4 Amos P. Holden, 82d Infantry.

Benjamin F. Meservey, 18th Infantiy; j^^^ ^ p^^.^.^ 2d Louisiana:

wounded. Joseph M. Thomas, 42d Infantrv

r AiTAiKA Louis T. V. Cazaire, 89th U. 8. Infty.

^ ThaddeuR Churchill, 3d U. 8. Infly.

Edwin Humphrey, 11th Infty ; killed. John H. Prouty, S9th InfantiT.

Alexander Hitchborn, 12th Infantry; Caleb H. Beal, 107th N. T. fnftj.

killed. Thomas Hickey, 4th Cavalry.

Elijah Hobart, 93d N. T. ; kiUed. Caleb B Gill, 57th Indiana Inftr.

John E. Morse. Invalid Corps. Edwin F. Tirrell, dd Heavy Ardllery.

James H. Wade, 28th Infantry. Benjamin S. ^Vliiting, 17th U. 8. luf^.

Edwin Thomas, 3d Heavy Artillery. William Barnes, — N. Y. ; prisoner.

HOmiSMmUitM

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\M»ttmmm^§mut^mi\minmiaui^

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♦ 1

868

BiiUny qf Hingham.

m THE KAYT.

CUIEF BNOIKKSB.

Charles H. Loring.

ACTING MA8TBB.

Thomas Andrews; died in sendee.
Lemuid Pope.

ACTING ASSISTANT PAYMASTER.

Andrew Tower.

ACTING ASSISTANT SUSOEOV.

Franklin Nickerson.

ACTING ENSIGNS.

Edward W. Halcro; died in senrioe-
Charles M. Fuller. '

Charles A. Stewart

ACTING THIRD ASSISTANT ENGINEE!

John M. Trussell.

Fifty-six Hingham men, who received commissions in the se
vice of their country during those eventful years in which wi
fought the Civil War; fiftj-six men who, like their comrade
in the ranks, served her faithfully and bravely, and in mai
instances even unto death.

No account of the soldiers of Massachusetts, however brief, an
especially of those belonging to Hingham, would be complei
without at least a reference to the loved fellow-townsman wl
within the Commonwealth was commander-in-chief during the Ioe
period of anxiety and sacrifice from 1861 to 1865. This is no p1a<
in which to eulogize John A. Andrew, and for the people of tl
town no eulogy is needed. Yet in this their book they would fe
it amiss, if to his noble wreath no laurel leaf were to be addc
by them as a memorial to the kind words and warm-hearted deec
with which the great chief sped his comrades from Hingham c
their way, cheered and sustained and cared for them in the fiel
and received and welcomed them again to the common home ;
leaf glistening and gleaming with the sunshine which his grei
heart carried to the waiting hearths, beside which sat the wearic
and watching, — gold-lighted with its record of the hope his tei
derness brought to the sorrowing, while he gently helped lay i
their mother earth the town's brave who had'fallen asleep in h
aervice. Proudly and lovingly we claim this man as one of tl
soldiers of Hingham.

Near the close of the record of Revolutionary services the nui
ber of the men bearing certain of the most numerous surnam<
which occurred among those representing Hingham, and belon]
ing undoubtedly to the twenty -four largest families, was give;
A similar statement, but with the same selection of names, ai
taken in the same order, may not be without interest to the dwel
ers in this old town, which, while maintaining with little chan{
80 many of the customs of the olden time, has preserved also i
inconsiderable number of the names of the early settlers in tl
families of to-day. Serving in the Union army there were si:
teen Lincolns, eleven Cushings, five Seals, three Whitons, nil

L£«5-

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f I ': ■ -

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STATUE OF GOVEKNOK ANDREW.

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Mililarjf Hi$iorp.

869

Stodders, eleven Herseys, thirteen GardnerSi one Hobart, five
Towers, four Loriugs, one Bates, three Barrs, eight Spragues, sfx
Wilders, three Dunbars, one Leavitt, four Fearings, four Lanes,
seven Barneses, four Marshes, while from our muitaiy lists tlie
Lewises, Stowells, Joys, and Tbaxters have entirely disappeared.

This chapter, with all its length, yet all too short for a satisfac-
tory memorial to the children of the town who have cared naught
for suffering and death when duty beckoned along the dangerous
path, is fast drawing to its close. A few words only remain, and
those mainly for the living. To promote Loyalty, Fidelity, Char-
ity, there was organized, August 5, 1869, Edwin Humphrey Post,
No. 104, of the Grand Army of the Republic. Col. Hawkes Fear-
ing was its first commander. Major Benjamin F. Meservey, senior
vice-commander, Capt Peter N. Sprague, junior vice-commander,
Lieut George R. Kced, quartermaster, Samuel J. Henderson,
officer of the day, William H. Jacobs, officer of tlie guard, and
Henry Jones was appointed adjutant. These, together with George
Thomas, William H. Thomas, Isaac B. Damon, Edward T. Blossom,
William Jones, Hubert J. Tulley, John A. Reed, and William S.
Whiton were cimrter members. Colonel Fearing was again
chosen commander in 1870, and the same office has been held
since that date by Capt. Peter' N. Sprague in 1871-1874, Lemuel
Pope in 1875, Captain Sprague again in 1876, Major Edward T.
Bouv^ in 1877-1879, — during which the Post became uniformed,
and raised a considcrnblc charity fund, — Lieut. George R. Reed
in 1880, Isaac F. Goodwin in 1881 and for part of 1882, resigning
April 8 of the latter year, William H. Thomas for the remainder
of 1882 and in 1883, Charles H. Wakefield for 1884-1886, John
H. Stoddar in 1887 and 1888, J. Henry Howe in 1889, CoL
Thomas Weston in 1890 and 1891, Major Lyman B. Whiton in
1892, and Arthur Beale in 1893. Since its organization one
hundred and forty names have been upon the rolls of its com-
rades. The present number is seventy-seven. Eleven comrades
have joined the greater army which responds only to Heaven^s
trumpets ; they are Samuel J. Henderson, Tliomas Murphy, Edward
W. Marston, Samuel Bronsdon, William Hersey, John W. Gault,
Charles Sprague, Stephen A. Hall, Octavius R. Barry, George T.
Eilbum, William Taylor.

In 1888 the Post, with the aid of funds raised by fairs and
contributions of citizens, built a hall well adapted for its purposes
at Centre Hingham, and within a short distance of the old fort
commanded by Capt. John Smith in the days of King Philip.
Here the members meet for business, mutual assistance, encour-
agement, and pleasure ; and here on each Memorial Day are held
appropriate exercises in wliich the Woman's Relief Corps, the
Sous of Veterans, visiting coroi^des, and the citizens of the town
kindle anew the fires of patriotism, and lay upon the altar of the
heroic dead the flowers of memory.

TOl. 1 — 14

870

BUtorjf <if Singham.

To assist and encourage tlic Post of the Graad A
noble work, to aid its charities, and to inculcate and i
spirit of patriotism among the children, a branch of tlie
Relief Corps was organized here December 17, 1885.
president was Mrs. Mary Whiton, who held that office <
slie was succeeded by )Irs. Martha C. WakcRcld durinj
three years, aud'by Mrs. Martha S. Litchfield, who
dent in 18S1. The next president was Mrs. Hattie
who was chosen in 1892, and again this year. TherS
relief fund for the benclit of the needy among soldien
The present membership is seventy-six, and monthly mi
held at Grand Army Uall, which is also the headquart
Corps.

A camp of the Sons of Veterans, called the Charlet
Camp, also meets at the hall of the Poet. It was
March 10, 1887, and its successive commanders have be
L. Wbiton, C. Sumner Henderson, Gustavus 0. I
Hosea H. Batchcldcr, J. Arthur Batcheldcr, and Fred I
The Camp numbers about forty-eight at this time, and
bers materially assist in the ceremonies of Memorial Di

Tn the declining hours of the day, near the close of I
ful spring month of May of each recurring year, whe
grauce of a thousand flowers scents the air with its
and the bright green of the young grass and new leav
New England in freshness, a little band of blue-coated
growing into years, and with ever feebler stcjis marcli
the folds of the Hag which to tliciu has been a shield I
a star by night, to the music which was once an insj
battle, which sung paeans in victory, lulled to slumber in
and death, whiB|>crcd ever of home, and to this day is n<
witliout sending a thrill to the hcai-t, enters the old ce
the village burial-place of tlie fathers, — -and passing b
pines which shade moss-^rown stones and tombs, thrc
ing paths leading by sunken graves, by the first setth
nicnt, down into a tjuiet valley and up again (o the heig
ranges itself hi line before the resting place and white
their friend and comrade, the great War Governor. Her
comrades from a Post bearing his name in the citr
oOicial life was mostly spent, with a few earnest words
liis spirit, and with simple and brief exercises, the Gr
hiys upon the grave of Andrew its annual memorial.

A few steps farther, and around the granite pillar
with the names of the sons who so gallantly servci
]>coplc of Hingham await the ceremonies which keep
memories of Uiose who fell to alcep in the lore of thei
Here are the rulers of the town, the selectmen, ch<
March to guide ita affairs through tlie ensuing year, the
with scarceljr perceptible iosiguift of office and insiu

■rilMll

' . 1 Jfcl" _•!*_ 1^ ^_ ^ ■

ifiiiy

tuumttm

*««MI

^Hkmmmt

872

History of Hingham.

into a 8weet memory, and whose sadness is only tempered by ax
unspoken hope. They are all here, — these and the youns
maiden, the coming men, and the happy children of to-day. And
they all gather closer as the Grand Army forms in front around
the large scmi-circle of baskets overflowing with the blossomi
brought to mingle their brightness with the green of earth. It
front is the monument, and to the east, upon the side of the highest
ground in the cemetery, was the fort erected to defend the harboi
against the Spaniards; on an adjoining elevation northwesterlj
still stand the defences of 1676, wnen Philip menaced the town;
between *the monument and the valley, and beyond it by and neai
the old general's resting-place, lie die slumbering brave of the
Revolution ; everywhere, among the fathers, beside the old soL
diers, and in the new ground alike, the flags which mark the sleep^
ing heroes of the Civil War wave gently in the soft spring breeze.
From the band stationed neariloats a hymn, — an old one, dear an^
familiar ; the chaplain hushes tlie assembly in prayer ; a short
earnest plea for country, a tender tribute to the fallen, a word ol
pride in their sacrifice, of sympathy for the sorrowing, and th€
orator — local and uncelebrated perhaps, but reverent and full ol
the occasion — is through. A word or two from the commandei
of the Post, a signal, quietly given, and the violets and the liliei
are blooming and nodding in new places, and saying, in language
equalled by no other, that here sleeps a soldier whom his loved
ones, his comrades, and the great Republic have not forgottca
Again the music sounds; the street, full of the homes and the
history of other days, re-echoes with the martial strains; the suq<
light fading away from the lowly mounds gilds still the Old
Meeting-house steeple, touches with its rays the top of the monu-
ment, and reflected from the masses of clouds in the western
horizon paints the harbor with the color of the rose. From the
distance the last notes of ** retreat" borne from Grand Armj
Hall come floating on the evening breeze, **oId glory'' flutters to
the ground from many a stafiF, and Memorial Day, fitly and faith-
fully obser\'ed in this old town of the mingled Puritans and
Pilgrims, has come to its close.

With the exception of the company formed under the law ol
1864, which elected Henry Jones captain, but in consequence ol
the repeal of the Act soon after, never met for drill or parade,
there has been no strictly local military organization in Hingham
since the disbanding of the Lincoln Light Infantry, Septembei
29, 1862.

Upon rising ground stretching along Broad Cove, overlooking
the early anchorage of many of the fleet which long years ago
whitened Hingham^s bay, — some undoubtedly built in the ship-
yard then situated just below the bluff, but since disappeared and
forgotten, — and directly opposite the southern slope of Otis Hilli

Militarif Hiiioff.

878

lies the beautifully located military post of the First Corps of
Cadets, and tlie scene of its camp in each recurring July. In
the rear and looking toward the setting sun as it crimsons the
placid waters which finally shrink into a little winding brook,
the view extends across the green meadows and far up the
valley in the direction of Weymouth Back River. On the
opposite side and about a half-mile distant the church spires
and roofs of the houses — themselves half hidden by the inter-
vening hill — indicate the nearest village, while to the east the
harbor of blue in its setting of green, with its steamers plying
back and forth, is seen through a break in the land bordering
Otis Street

Beyond its natural attractiveness there is no little historical
interest attaching to the place as the training-field of the militia
in the olden days, and still more, as being the probable location
of the barracks, — certainly situated in the immediate vicinity, if
not on the ground, — erected for the accommodation of Captain
James Lincoln and his company when Hingham was a garrisoned
town in the early part of the Revolution. In plain view, too, is
the road, once called Broad Cove Lane, but now Lincoln Street,
down which marched Captain Lincoln*s command, and the other
companies of the town, as well as those of Scituate and Weymouth,
when hastening to drive the Eluglish from Grape Island May 21,
1775.

Here, in the succeeding years, come large numbers of people
interested in the regular order and beautiful ceremonies of a
military camp, and the snow-white streets are thronged each
evening with listeners to the concert of the fine band.

While having no official connection with Hingham, the posses-
sion by the corps of these increasingly attractive grounds with
the bright green and well-kept parade and fine rows of growing
maples, together with the annual tour of duty performed here by
it, the fact that no inconsiderable number of the town^s young
men have been from time to time enrolled in its ranks, as well as
that among her citizens are three of the present officers, have
gradually created a feeling of local ownership in the corps, which
is now claimed and regarded, as in a sense at least belonging
to the town, and as one of her institutions.

The First Corps of Cadets was organized in 1741, and is the
modern outgrowth of the famous " Governor's Company of Cadets,'*
which composed a part of the militia, both before and since the
Revolution. While commanded by Hancock, — whose mother, it
will be recalled, was a Hingham lady, — the then company was
disbanded by Governor Gage for its adherence to the patriotic
cause, but was reorganized and served under General Sullivan in
Rhode Island. At the opening of the rebellion the corps was
sent to garrison Fort Warren, and later it furnished many officers
to the army, and particularly for the Forty-fifth Massachusetts
Infantry^ generally known as the Cadet Regiment.

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ifciaMaMi>iJfc^^i>ifcirfi h" if'aii irnii liini'liiri I'l

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• I

874

History of Hingham.

It is one of the two organizations forming a separate branoli of
the militia of the Commonwealth, and at the present time com-
prises four companies armed as infantrj, and having headquarters
at the armory on Columbus Avenue, Boston. It is commanded
by Lieut-Col. Thomas F. Edmands, a distinguished officer in the
Civil War, while Major George B. Rogers, Captains William H.
AUine and Andrew Bobeson, and Lieut. Edward E. Currier, are
all veterans who were in active service in the Union's cause.

Several of our present or former citizens have held commis-
sions in the militai^jr service of the Commonwealth since 1865.
The following is believed to be a correct list: —

Solomon Lincoln, Jr., Colonel and Aide-de-camp to his Honor

Lieut.-6overnor Talbot, acting Governor, May 26, 1874 ; Colonel

and Aide-de-camp to his Excellency Governor Talbot, January

14, 1879.
Arthur Lincoln, Captain and Judge Advocate, 2d Brigade, July

80, 1877.
John D. Long, Governor and Commander-in-chief, 1880-1882.
Edward T. Bouv£, Colonel and Aide-de-camp to his Excellency

Governor Long ; Captain and Engineer on staff of Brig.-Gen.

Nat Wales, 1st Brigade, M. V. M., Feb. 9, 1888 ; Captain an^

Provost Marshal, 1st Brigade, May 24, 1887; Captain and

Aide-de-camp, 1st Brigade, April 10, 1888.
Elijah Greorge, Captain and Judge Advocate, 2d Brigade, M.V.M;,

August 12, 1882.
Charles E. Stevens, 1st Lieutenant and Quartermaster, Feb. 26,

1868, Captain and Paymaster, Jan. 9, 1874, First Corps Cadets.
Charles C. Melcher, 1st Lieutenant and Quartermaster, First

Corps Cadets, Feb. 9, 1875.
Walter L. Bouv£, Ist Lieutenant, First Corps Cadets, Feb. 20, 1889.

United States Begular Sebvicb.

Not previously mentioned in these pages : —

Charles H. B. Caldwell, son of Charles H. Caldwell and Susan

Blake, born in Hingham, and died in Boston, Nov. 80, 1877,

Commodore in U. S. Nav)% June 14, 1874.
Charles L. Corthell, graduated at West Point June 14, 1884, 2d

Lieutenant, 4th Artillery, June 15, 1884 ; 1st Lieutenant, Apr.

24,1889.

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